Presidential Document2021-13451
Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021
Primary source
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Published
June 23, 2021
Signed
June 18, 2021
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 118 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)</title>
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[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 [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13451]
Presidential Documents
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.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2021-13451
Filed 6-22-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 23, 2021.
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