WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden Thursday signed legislation marking Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in Confederate states, a federal holiday.

"This will go down for me as one of the greatest honors I will have as president," Biden said.

The president signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in the East Room of the White House, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and key lawmakers in the swift passage of the bill.

"We have come far and we have far to go, but today is a day of celebration," Harris said.

Harris, the nation's first Black vice president, also the noted the significance of where the bill signing was happening. "We are gathered here in a house built by enslaved people," she said.

And Biden praised the country's newest holiday as a way to help heal centuries-old divisions and bring about racial justice. "Great nations don't ignore their most painful moments, they embrace them," Biden said. "In remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger."

Holiday for federal workers

The law took effect immediately after Biden's signature, meaning that federal workers will be allowed to observe the occasion ahead of Saturday. "As the 19th falls on a Saturday, most federal employees will observe the holiday tomorrow, June 18th," the U.S. Office of Personnel Management wrote in a tweet.

Juneteenth marks the day when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, were notified of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.

While President Abraham Lincoln delivered his proclamation freeing all enslaved people in rebelling states in 1862, Confederate troops and slaveholders in states that had seceded did not observe the proclamation until Union troops arrived to liberate the enslaved people, the last of whom were in Galveston.

Long observed among Black Americans, Juneteenth has gained higher prominence in recent years after racial justice movements increased interest in the holiday and more states and cities have passed legislation commemorating emancipation.

The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate and reached near-consensus in the House, with 14 Republican lawmakers voting against the bill. (Source: USA Today)

Story Date: June 18, 2021