[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 118 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 32717-32718]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13451]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 118 / Wednesday, June 23, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 32717]]

                Proclamation 10229 of June 18, 2021

                
Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On June 19, 1865--nearly nine decades after our 
                Nation's founding, and more than 2 years after 
                President Lincoln signed the Emancipation 
                Proclamation--enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, 
                finally received word that they were free from bondage. 
                As those who were formerly enslaved were recognized for 
                the first time as citizens, Black Americans came to 
                commemorate Juneteenth with celebrations across the 
                country, building new lives and a new tradition that we 
                honor today. In its celebration of freedom, Juneteenth 
                is a day that should be recognized by all Americans. 
                And that is why I am proud to have consecrated 
                Juneteenth as our newest national holiday.

                Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and power.

                A day in which we remember the moral stain and terrible 
                toll of slavery on our country--what I've long called 
                America's original sin. A long legacy of systemic 
                racism, inequality, and inhumanity.

                But it is a day that also reminds us of our incredible 
                capacity to heal, hope, and emerge from our darkest 
                moments with purpose and resolve.

                As I said on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race 
                Massacre, great nations don't ignore the most painful 
                chapters of their past. Great nations confront them. We 
                come to terms with them.

                On Juneteenth, we recommit ourselves to the work of 
                equity, equality, and justice. And, we celebrate the 
                centuries of struggle, courage, and hope that have 
                brought us to this time of progress and possibility. 
                That work has been led throughout our history by 
                abolitionists and educators, civil rights advocates and 
                lawyers, courageous activists and trade unionists, 
                public officials, and everyday Americans who have 
                helped make real the ideals of our founding documents 
                for all.

                There is still more work to do. As we emerge from the 
                long, dark winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, for 
                example, racial equity remains at the heart of our 
                efforts to vaccinate the Nation and beat the virus. We 
                must recognize that Black Americans, among other people 
                of color, have shouldered a disproportionate burden of 
                loss--while also carrying us through disproportionately 
                as essential workers and health care providers on the 
                front lines of the crisis.

                Psalm 30 proclaims that ``weeping may endure for a 
                night, but joy cometh in the morning.'' Juneteenth 
                marks both the long, hard night of slavery and 
                discrimination, and the promise of a brighter morning 
                to come. My Administration is committed to building an 
                economy--and a Nation--that brings everyone along, and 
                finally delivers our Nation's founding promise to Black 
                Americans. Together, we will lay the roots of real and 
                lasting justice, so that we can become the 
                extraordinary country that was promised to all 
                Americans.

                Juneteenth not only commemorates the past. It calls us 
                to action today.

[[Page 32718]]

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 19, 2021, 
                as Juneteenth Day of Observance. I call upon the people 
                of the United States to acknowledge and celebrate the 
                end of the Civil War and the emancipation of Black 
                Americans, and commit together to eradicate systemic 
                racism that still undermines our founding ideals and 
                collective prosperity.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                fifth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2021-13451
Filed 6-22-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P