[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 19, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H3767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate 
Juneteenth. Each June 19, we observe Juneteenth to commemorate the end 
of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth is observed in 42 States, 
including my home State of New York. In Buffalo, we are proud to have 
the third-largest Juneteenth celebration in the Nation.
  In Buffalo, we are also proud to have a rich history in the anti-
slavery movement. The Michigan Street Baptist Church hosted 
abolitionist Frederick Douglass at an anti-slave gathering in 1843 and 
Booker T. Washington in 1910. Nearby, Buffalonian Mary Talbert opened 
her home to prominent African American leaders in the early 1900s and 
founded the Niagara Movement, which was a forerunner of the NAACP.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to honor Juneteenth to honor the strength of 
our Nation's African American heritage and to celebrate the promise of 
an even stronger future.

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