Juneteenth: A National Holiday.

Thought you might like to hear what our Vice President had to say so we took a moment out of our day to transcribe her speech. IGFB won't allow us enough characters, so head over to our blog via the link in our bio to read it. Today was a GOOD day.

“THROUGHOUT HISTORY, JUNETEENTH HAS BEEN KNOWN BY MANY NAMES, JUBILEE DAY, FREEDOM DAY, LIBERATION DAY, EMANCIPATION DAY. AND TODAY, A NATIONAL HOLIDAY.

LOOKING OUT ACROSS THIS ROOM, I SEE THE ADVOCATES, THE ACTIVISTS, THE LEADERS WHO HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR THIS DAY FOR SO LONG, INCLUDING THE ONE AN ONLY, MISS OPAL LEE.

AND I SEE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS, MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE WHO PASSED THIS BILL UNANIMOUSLY AND ALL OF WHOM COLLECTIVELY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING THIS BILL TO THE PRESIDENT’S DESK.

I THANK YOU ALL. WE THANK YOU ALL. YOUR NATION THANKS YOU ALL.

WHEN WE ESTABLISH A NATIONAL HOLIDAY, IT MAKES AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT. NATIONAL HOLIDAYS ARE SOMETHING IMPORTANT. THESE ARE DAYS WHEN WE AS A NATION HAVE DECIDED TO STOP AND TAKE STOCK, AND OFTEN TO ACKNOWLEDGE OUR HISTORY.

AND SO AS WE ESTABLISH JUNETEENTH AS OUR NEWEST NATIONAL HOLIDAY, LET US BE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED ON JUNE 19^TH, 1865. THE DAY WE CALL JUNETEENTH. BECAUSE YOU SEE THAT DAY WAS NOT THE END OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA.ON THAT DAY THE ENSLAVED PEOPLE OF

GALVESTON, TEXAS LEARNED THAT THEY WERE FREE. BUT IN FACT, 2.5 YEARS EARLIER THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION ENDED SLAVERY IN THE CONFEDERACY.

SO THINK ABOUT THAT. FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS THE ENSLAVED PEOPLE OF TEXAS WERE KEPT IN SERVITUDE, FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS THEY WERE INTENTIONALLY KEPT FROM THEIR

FREEDOM. FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS. AND THEN ON THAT SUMMER DAY, 156 YEARS AGO THE ENSLAVED PEOPLE OF TEXAS LEARNED THE NEWS. THEY LEARNED THAT THEY WERE FREE. AND THEY CLAIMED THEIR FREEDOM. IT WAS INDEED AN IMPORTANT DAY.

AND STILL LET US ALSO REMEMBER THAT DAY WAS NOT THE END OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA, THE TRUTH IS, IT WOULD BE 6 MORE MONTHS BEFORE THE 13^th AMENDMENT WAS RATIFIED, BEFORE ENSLAVED PEOPLE IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH WERE FREE. SO AS WE COMMEMORATE THE HISTORY OF JUNETEENTH,

AS WE DID JUST WEEKS AGO WITH THE HISTORY OF THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE, WE MUST LEARN FROM OUR HISTORY AND WE MUST TEACH OUR CHILDREN OUR HISTORY, BECAUSE IT IS PART OF OUR HISTORY AS A NATION, IT IS PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY.

WE ARE GATHERED HERE IN A HOUSE BUILT BY ENSLAVED PEOPLE. WE ARE FOOTSTEPS AWAY FROM WHERE PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SIGNED THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND WE ARE HERE TO WITNESS PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN ESTABLISH JUNETEENTH AS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY.

WE HAVE COME FAR AND WE HAVE FAR TO GO. BUT TODAY IS A DAY OF CELEBRATION. IT IS NOT ONLY A DAY OF PRIDE, IT IS ALSO A DAY FOR US TO REAFFIRM AND DEDICATE OURSELVES TO ACTION

AND WITH THAT I SAY, HAPPY JUNETEENTH EVERYBODY.”

~VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS

To view this and President Biden's speech, visit.

To learn more about Juneteenth, visit last year's post here.