Supporters Lobby to Make Juneteenth a National Holiday

Supporters of a national holiday for Juneteenth--the day when the last slaves in the United States learned they had been emancipated--will kick off a three-day lobbying effort today at the Lincoln Memorial, according to organizers.

Juneteenth, a Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and Delaware state holiday, has its origins in Galveston, Texas, where, on June 19, 1865, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger made his final stop on an arduous journey through the South to tell slaves that they were emancipated and that the Civil War was over. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years before Juneteenth.

The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation is sponsoring this weekend’s events, including today’s program at the Lincoln Memorial, a Sunday worship service at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church and a march on Monday from the Frederick Douglass House in Anacostia, a section of the district, to the Capitol for a rally.

Rev. Ronald V. Myers Sr., founder and president of the foundation in Belzoni, Miss., said Congress recognized Juneteenth as Independence Day for Americans of African descent through a joint resolution in 1997. Myers said the foundation now seeks to make Juneteenth a national holiday, not a federal paid holiday.

According to the foundation, the celebration at the Lincoln Memorial will present a series of speakers including Reps. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) and James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) as well as entertainers and gospel choirs.