President Joe Biden has signed a bill establishing June 19 as a federal holiday in the United States of America to commemorate the end of slavery in the union. The holiday will be known as Juneteenth, a blend of the words June and nineteenth.
Also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth brings people from all around the country in festivities together just like July 4, US independence day.
Though the bill is just being signed officially by the Biden administration, it has been celebrated since the year 1865. Biden’s signing makes Juneteenth the first approved holiday since Martin Luther King Jr Day, established in 1983.
Though Juneteenth has had some controversies surrounding it, especially among some sections of the non-black community of America, the killings of black people, heightened by the murder of George Floyd by white supremacist cop, has given the idea greater awareness in America and even globally. The activities of the Black Lives Matter movement has also added voice to the campaign.
