President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday making Juneteenth a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States -- just in time for Saturday's June 19 anniversary,
abc news reports.
It's a day African Americans have celebrated yearly since the Civil War-era and the culmination of a decades-long effort by advocates to get national recognition for the momentous development in American history.
A jubilant Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation's first Black vice president, who co-sponsored the legislation when she served in the Senate, spoke about the significance of the occasion, noting slaves helped build the White House.
“Throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names: Jubilee Day. Freedom Day. Liberation Day. Emancipation Day. And today, a national holiday,” Harris said, to cheers and applause in a White House East Room filled with about 80 lawmakers and other guests.
“And 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 and only Ms. Opal Lee,” she said, before Biden left the stage and walked over to the 94-year-old he later called the "grandmother of the movement."
In 2016, at 89-years old, Lee walked from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to the nation's capital in an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. Also in the audience was musical icon Usher, who has advocated for the holiday.
Biden called Juneteenth a day of “profound weight and profound power.”
“A day in which we remember the moral stain that the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take, what I have long called America's original sin,” he said.
