The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, which had previously been the unofficial celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.
After a Republican in the chamber withdrew his objection, the bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Tuesday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden for his approval after clearing the House 415-14.
Most states in the United States recognize Juneteenth as a holiday or mark it in some way, but the bill enacted by Congress would make Juneteenth the 12th federal holiday in the United States, and the first in 38 years.
The commemoration has taken on renewed resonance over the past year with millions of Americans confronting the country’s living legacy of racial injustice.
“Juneteenth is as significant to African Americans as it will be to Americans because we too are Americans, and it means freedom,” House Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee told her colleagues, describing slavery as “America’s original sin.”
Juneteenth National Independence Day is commemorated on June 19 to celebrate the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African Americans learned that they were free.
A Union Army general in Galveston, Texas — where president Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 had yet to be enforced nearly three years later — announced that slavery was abolished in Texas and across the country.
“This day reminds us of a history much stained by brutality and injustice, and it reminds us of our responsibility to build a future of progress for all, honoring the ideal of equality that is America’s heritage, and America’s hope,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Lawmakers broke into applause and cheers when the bill passed.
