From the BBC:
“Juneteenth: What is the
newest US holiday and how is it celebrated?”
The Juneteenth National
Independence Day Act, which establishes a holiday that commemorates the end of
slavery in the US, has been signed by President Joe Biden. "I've only been
president for several months, but I think this will go down, for me, as one of
the greatest honours I will have had as president," Mr Biden said at the
signing event. So what is Juneteenth, how did it become a holiday and what do
people do to celebrate it?
What is the origin of
Juneteenth? On 19 June 1865 - months after the northern US states defeated
the South in a civil war fought over slavery - enslaved African-Americans in
Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. The day became known as
Juneteenth, a word created by joining the words "June" and
"nineteenth" together. The liberation of enslaved people in
Texas came more than two and half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed
the Emancipation Proclamation, releasing more than 3.5 million from forced
bondage. The declaration by General Grainger to bring the Emancipation
Proclamation into effect in Texas is seen by many as the end of slavery as it
finally brought the practice to an end in the last state still holding the
enslaved.
How did it become a federal
law? Already 49 states and Washington DC formally recognise Juneteenth as a
state or ceremonial holiday. South Dakota is the last remaining state. When
he was senator of Illinois, Barack Obama co-sponsored legislation to make
Juneteenth a national holiday, but the law was never passed - even after he
became president. This year, companies such as Nike, Uber, Twitter and
many others have announced they are giving their employees a paid day off for
Juneteenth. Governors in some states, including New York and Virginia,
have also declared it a holiday for state employees. On Wednesday, the
US House of Representatives backed the legislation by 415-14, a day after it
was unanimously approved by the Senate. With the signature of President Biden,
it has become law. Fourteen House Republicans voted against the bill.
One lawmaker from Montana said the legislation was all about "identity politics".
A Kentucky opponent of the bill said its establishment will "create
confusion and push Americans to pick one of those two days as their
independence day based on their racial identity".
It is the first new federal
holiday since Martin Luther King Jr Day was established in 1983. The
effort to have Juneteenth declared a federal holiday was decades in the making.
In 2016, 89-year-old Opal Lee walked from Texas - where Juneteenth has been
a state holiday since 1980 - to Washington DC in an effort to encourage
lawmakers. She walked 2.5 miles (4km) each day - representing the two
and a half years that it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn that they
had been freed. "I've got so many different feelings all gurgling
up in here," Ms Lee said after Congress approved it as a federal holiday.
"I don't know what to call them all. I am so delighted to know that
suddenly we've got a Juneteenth. "It's not a Texas thing or a black
thing. It's an American thing."
What is different this year? The
ending of slavery did not do away with racism, and in the years after so-called
Jim Crow laws were created to separate black people from white society and
limit their civil rights. The legacy of those laws is still being
dismantled. The death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other
African-Americans at the hands of police have led to anti-racism protests
protests by followers of the Black Lives Matter movement. In addition,
some Democrats argue that recent Republican state election reforms making it
harder to vote are an effort to disenfranchise minority voters who often lean
Democratic. Last year, former president Donald Trump postponed an
election rally originally planned for 19 June after facing criticism amid
nationwide anti-racism protests. It also comes as a fierce cultural
debate rages over the history of slavery and how it should be taught in
American schools. Some Republican-controlled states have sought to have schools
teach the "patriotic education" favoured by Mr Trump, and limit or
prohibit curriculums that seek to re-examine the importance of slavery to the
foundation of the country.
How is it celebrated? Juneteenth
celebrations and traditions vary across the US. In some states there are
parades, and people gather for food and to play games. As well as public
readings and singing, picnics and church services, in some states rodeos,
contests, concerts and parades are also organised. Food also plays an
important part, with barbecues being one of the most popular ways of marking
the day with family and friends. The most famous dish is called
"the Marcus Garvey salad", named after the black activist and made
with red, green, and black beans.
^ I’m all for a holiday like
this, but think it should be on September 22nd (when Lincoln signed
the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862) since that is when slavery was
officially outlawed in the US - well in
the parts of the Confederacy that still had it – and not when some Union
General told a group of slaves in Texas they were freed months after the Confederacy
lost the Civil War. I’m not really sure if this is a Ceremonial Holiday or a Real
Non-Working Federal Holiday and if it is a Non-Working Federal Holiday does
that start this year? Or in the future? Will the US Post Office deliver the
mail this Saturday (June 19th?) ^
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