{"id":5489,"date":"2022-06-10T23:24:26","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T23:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2022-06-10T23:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T23:26:11","slug":"the-newest-us-federal-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=5489","title":{"rendered":"The Newest US Federal Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law<\/a> that officially designates Juneteenth to be observed each year on June 19. He has called this day to be an American holiday. \u00a0Juneteenth has become the first new federal holiday since the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you know what Juneteenth is and why so much talk surrounding it? \"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

On April 9, 1865, the Confederate army surrendered; the Union army was victorious, and the Civil War was over. Because of Lincoln\u2019s earlier declaration ending slavery, that meant enslaved people could claim their freedom. But many slave owners didn\u2019t want to see this change come.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, leaders in Texas still followed the state\u2019s Confederate constitution, which stated that no laws could be passed freeing enslaved people, even though the Confederacy had lost the war. That\u2019s one reason why Granger and his Union army came to Texas more than two months after the end of the war, to make sure slave owners were following the new law and letting enslaved people go free. On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston,\u00a0Texas<\/a>, with an announcement: Enslaved people there were free.<\/span><\/p>\n

To spread the word about freedom, Granger and more than 2,000 Union soldiers marched to public buildings and even a church to read the\u00a0General Order, No. 3<\/i>., part of which declared:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. “<\/span><\/p>\n

Later that year, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed into law to officially abolish the practice of slavery after nearly 250 years of it in the United States. Even after passage, the law often had to be enforced in many former slave states by federal agents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond Texas, enslaved people were granted freedom at different times, but it\u2019s still June 19 that many people celebrate as a \u201csecond Independence Day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after Granger\u2019s announcement, newly freed Black people around Texas organized and purchased park land for annual celebrations for what was now called \u201cJuneteenth,\u201d a mashup of the month and day of Granger\u2019s news. Owning land was something that enslaved African Americans were never allowed to do, so having a place set aside to celebrate their freedom was a powerful symbol of their new status. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>