Juneteenth marks when enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation.

Senate Unanimously Approves A Bill To Make Juneteenth A Public Holiday

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2021-06-15 23:00:16

Juneteenth marks when enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum via AP hide caption

The Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, the date commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States, a legal public holiday.

The holiday is celebrated on June 19, and it began in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Abraham Lincoln had signed the proclamation outlawing slavery years earlier, but it was not until 1865 that those in bondage in Texas were freed.

"Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a major step forward to recognize the wrongs of the past," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement, "but we must continue to work to ensure equal justice and fulfill the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation and our Constitution."

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