On June 17, 2021 President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. The law made June 19th a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Juneteenth's commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865, announcement of Union Army General Gordon Granger proclaiming and enforcing freedom of enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery. The House version of the bill was sponsored by Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, and was co-sponsored by 166 members, two of whom are Republicans. It passed 415 to 14, with all the no votes coming from Republicans. It passed the Senate via unanimous consent.
