Pres. Joe Biden signed into law Thu. a bill designating June 19th—AKA Juneteenth—an official federal holiday.
Juneteenth is now the U.S.'s 12th national holiday, and the first new federal holiday since MLK Jr. Day in 1983. (CNN)
The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Tue.. The House voted to pass the bill by a 415-14 vote Wed.. (WaPo)
Thu.'s signing was the culmination of a years-long effort by legislators and activists to make the day a federal holiday.
In 2016. then-89 year old Opal Lee began a 2.5-mile annual walk in Texas to make Juneteenth a national holiday. (CNN)
In 2020, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduced a bill to make June 19 a federal holiday—an effort that failed in the Senate.