[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 120 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H2682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING JUNETEENTH INDEPENDENCE DAY

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pass on the floor of 
the House H. Res. 1001.
  If we can recall our history, we will know that 155 years ago, on 
June 19, General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and 
announced the freedom of the last American slaves, belatedly freeing 
250,000 slaves in Texas, nearly 2.5 years after Abraham Lincoln signed 
the Emancipation Proclamation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the 200-plus Members of Congress who 
signed H. Res. 1001 that deals with recognizing June 19 as this year's 
observance of the historical significance of Juneteenth Independence 
Day.
  The reading of this order ended shadow slavery, a form of perpetual 
servitude, and, as well, the 13th Amendment that then forever banned 
slavery in this Nation. That servitude held generations of Africans in 
bondage in the United States for 248 years and opened a new chapter in 
American history.
  Mr. Speaker, it is America's original sin. I hope this legislation 
and the legislation to come will allow us to have a unified, dignified, 
peaceful discussion of race and systemic racism in this Nation, and 
Juneteenth will become a living symbol of freedom for people, including 
the proposed Juneteenth official Federal holiday.
  Juneteenth remains the oldest known celebration or commemoration of 
slavery's demise.

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