First new federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
On Thursday, President Biden signed a bill that established Juneteenth, or June 19, as the 12th federally recognized holiday. The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan Congress. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in America. The date was the day in 1865 that word reached Galveston, Texas, that slavery had been abolished in the United States – nearly two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect.
President Biden celebrated the new federal holiday, and pointed the nation to the work that still needs to be done saying, “The promise of equality will not be fulfilled until it becomes real in our schools, on our streets and in our neighborhoods, in the water that comes out of our faucets, the air that we breathe in our communities and in our justice system.” The president added, “In short, this day doesn’t just celebrate the past, it calls for action today.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- With praise to God for His grace setting at liberty those who were in bondage.
- For the president and his administration to defend American freedom.
- For Congress to work together for the good of the country.
Sources: AP, NPR, Fox News
