ATLANTA/CHICAGO — Marching bands sparked loud cheers and quieter reflections about racial justice from crowds gathered on Saturday to mark Juneteenth as a new U.S. federal holiday commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday signed a bill making Juneteenth the eleventh federally recognized holiday, just over a year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis ignited nationwide protests for racial justice and for ending police brutality.
Juneteenth, or June 19th, marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been …
Keep on reading: Cheers and quiet reflection from U.S. crowds marking Juneteenth