What is Juneteenth and is it a federal holiday?
JUNETEENTH is a holiday celebrating the day slaves in Texas were told they were free.
The federal holiday on June 19 commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865 marking the last day of slavery in the United States.
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth celebrated the emancipation of slaves in the state of Texas in 1865.
The legislation had actually been issued nearly two and a half years earlier in 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln.
But enslaved African Americans in Texas didn't learn about the Emancipation Proclamation until two years after it had been passed.
The holiday is also called “Juneteenth Independence Day,” “Freedom Day” or “Emancipation Day.”
Juneteenth is a portmanteau of June and 19.
It is observed across the US by all states, with Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota the last to sign a bill approving it as a legal holiday.
Texas was the first state to make Juneteenth an official paid holiday for state employees.
Is Juneteenth a Federal Holiday?
In June 2021, President Joe Biden officially signed the legislation that marks Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
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The bill passed through the US Senate, gaining unanimous approval on June 15, 2021, before it moved to Congress.
The House of Representatives then also passed the legislation the next day, establishing June 19 as a legal public holiday.
Biden officially signed the legislation on June 17, 2021.
When June 19 falls on a weekend, most federal employees will get either the Friday or Monday off.
How is Juneteenth celebrated?
Juneteenth, considered the "Black Independence Day", is celebrated much like the Fourth of July with gatherings, picnics, and parties with family and friends.
Some cities, like Atlanta and Washington, hold larger events, including parades and festivals with residents, local businesses and more.
It has become tradition to eat red foods.
According to , this may be because of the enslaved Yoruba and Kongo brought to Texas in the nineteenth century.
In these cultures the color red is the "embodiment of spiritual power and transformation".
Others say that red food is eaten to remember the blood spilt by the last freed slaves two years after the emancipation was signed.
So summer foods such as watermelon and strawberries are eaten, along with red velvet cake, and drinks such as strawberry sodas and hibiscus tea.
Barbecues are also central to a Juneteenth celebration, with many serving traditional Southern food.