Juneteenth, an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War, happens on Monday, June 19 with celebrations planned across the country. Here’s what to know about the national holiday, the importance of it and how it came to be.
The holiday, observed on June 19, is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and has been celebrated by communities across the country for more than a century.
But Juneteenth didn’t become federally-recognized until 2021, when President Biden signed legislation adding it to the government holiday calendar after both its name and significance rose to the forefront of national conversations the previous year with the resurgence and momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The U.S. federal government now recognizes 12 holidays, including Juneteenth, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. When Mr. Biden approved the law two years ago, he noted during a White House ceremony that a national holiday had not been established since one was declared in 1983 to honor the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“All Americans can feel the power of this day, and learn from our history,” Mr. Biden said at the ceremony.
The law immediately went into effect with his signature, and the first Juneteenth, as a national holiday, was observed the following day. That was June 18, 2021.
Before Juneteenth became an official federal holiday, it was already observed as a state or ceremonial holiday in 48 U.S. states as well as D.C. For decades, Juneteenth was declared a state holiday only in Texas, but then Maine, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia all passed laws in recent years to formally recognize the date, too.
Although communities have celebrated Juneteenth for more than 150 years, calls grew to establish it as a federal holiday during the summer of 2020, as the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and others became high-profile examples of a disproportionate number of deaths of Black Americans at the hands of White police officers.
Alongside the activism and unrest that came with America’s reckoning over racism and police brutality was a renewed push to honor Juneteenth, which many regard as a day meant to celebrate independence while also remembering the country’s long history of slavery.
“On behalf of all who have waited for this, I thank them,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee after the House voted to pass the legislation two years ago. “There is more to come in changing lives for justice, equality and freedom. That is what happened today.”
