[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 120 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E590-E591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE 2020 OBSERVANCE OF THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF JUNETEENTH 
                            INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 30, 2020

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, 155 years ago, on June 19, 1865, 
General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and announced the 
freedom of the last American slaves; belatedly freeing 250,000 slaves 
in Texas nearly two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln signed the 
Emancipation Proclamation.
  Juneteenth was first celebrated in the Texas state capital in 1867 
under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.
  Today, Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's 
demise. It commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and 
contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our 
great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has 
become.
  As the nation prepares to celebrate July 4th, our nation's 
independence day later this week, it is a time to reflect on the 
accomplishments of our nation and its people.
  I want to thank the Members of the House for their bipartisan support 
of this Resolution, which has over 214 cosponsors, of which 202 are 
original sponsors.
  General Granger's reading of this order ended chattel slavery, a form 
of perpetual servitude that held generations of Africans in

[[Page E591]]

bondage in the United States for two-hundred and forty-eight years and 
opened a new chapter in American history.
  Recognizing the importance of this date, former slaves coined the 
word ``Juneteenth'' to mark the occasion with a celebrations the first 
of which occurred in the Texas state capital in 1867 under the 
direction of the Freedmen's Bureau.
  Juneteenth was and is a living symbol of freedom for people who did 
not have it.
  Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration of slavery's demise.
  It commemorates freedom while acknowledging the sacrifices and 
contributions made by courageous African Americans towards making our 
great nation the more conscious and accepting country that it has 
become.
  The celebration of Juneteenth followed the most devastating conflict 
in our country's history, in the aftermath of a civil war that pitted 
brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and threatened to 
tear the fabric of our union apart forever that America truly became 
the land of the free and the home of the brave.
  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``Freedom is never 
free,'' and African American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph often 
said ``Freedom is never given. It is won.''
  Truer words were never spoken.
  We should all recognize the power and the ironic truth of those 
statements, and we should pause to remember the enormous price paid by 
all Americans in our country's quest to realize its promise.
  Juneteenth honors the end of the 400 years of suffering African 
Americans endured under slavery and celebrates the legacy of 
perseverance that has become the hallmark of the African American 
experience in the struggle for equality.
  In recent years, a number of National Juneteenth Organizations have 
arisen to take their place alongside older organizations--all with the 
mission to promote and cultivate knowledge and appreciation of African 
American history and culture.
  Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom while encouraging 
self-development and respect for all cultures.
  But it must always remain a reminder to us all that liberty and 
freedom are precious birthrights of all Americans, which must be 
jealously guarded and preserved for future generations.

                          ____________________