UPDATE: June 17, 2021: Congress passed the bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.  The bill is headed to the president's desk, he is expected to sign the bill according to AP.

Original story:

A few days ago, I wrote about how Maine will recognize Juneteenth as a holiday in the state of Maine. Now it looks like it could also be recognized as a national holiday. CNN posted the resolution passed in the United States Senate and now will move to the United States House of Representatives. If it passes both chambers, it will move the president's desk.

Juneteenth has long been celebrated by many in the United States, but what I was seeing on social media last year, many Americans were hearing about Juneteenth for the first time. I had been aware of the holiday, and it had to do with the end of slavery in the United States. What I did not realize was the whole story behind the holiday. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture Juneteenth "on June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas. He informed the enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended".

It is worth checking out more about our history, you never know what you will learn.

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