WILMINGTON – Governor John Carney signed legislation Wednesday making Juneteenth a state holiday, recognizing the official end of slavery in America.
Sponsored by Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, House Bill 119 establishes June 19 as a legal, permanent state holiday in Delaware. The bill was signed during a community breakfast event featuring Ms. Opal Lee, a civil rights leader widely regarded as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. In 2016, Ms. Lee, then 89 years old, walked 1,400 miles from her home in Fort Worth, TX, to Washington, D.C. to advocate for making Juneteenth a national holiday.
Earlier this year, Ms. Lee was present when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.
“I believe the least that each of us can do is commit to learning the lessons of our shared history – the good and the bad. That’s why this legislation is so important,” said Governor Carney. “Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans in the United States. This holiday will offer an opportunity to encourage open dialogue, and to recommit to treating one another with more respect. I want to thank Representative Dorsey Walker and Ms. Opal Lee for their tremendous leadership on this issue.”
Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans in the United States were emancipated, on June 19, 1865, more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. On that day, two months after the end of the Civil War, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, issued General Order No. 3, which announced that in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation, “all slaves are free.”
“We are not that far removed from an era in which Americans owned other people as property. My great-grandparents were born slaves, and their struggle to achieve freedom, equality and opportunity has been passed down through my family. This story is the same for so many Black families,” said Rep. Dorsey Walker, D-Wilmington. “By placing Juneteenth on the same level as other holidays such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we shall be showing the significance of this day and what it means to Black people across our state and nation. Having Ms. Opal Lee, the Grandmother of Juneteenth, present for this historic occasion at the Congo Legacy Center made today a truly special moment in Delaware.”
HB 119 is part of the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus’ Justice for All Agenda, a multi-step plan unveiled in June 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and in response to a nationwide movement for racial justice and police reform.
“The recognition of Juneteenth as an official state holiday is an important milestone for Black Delawareans that recognizes our struggle, celebrates our accomplishments and continues our contributions to this country, this state and this moment in history,” said Senator Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, the lead Senate sponsor of HB 119.
“So many people deserve credit for this moment, including Governor John Carney, who has ordered state government to observe this day of emancipation each of the last two years, President Joe Biden, who made Juneteenth a federal holiday back in June, as well as the unsung voices of Mr. Bernie Wilkins, the father of Delaware’s Juneteenth celebrations, and former State Senator Margaret Rose Henry, who first recognized Juneteenth in the Delaware General Assembly. On behalf of them and so many others, I am excited to begin our preparations for a Juneteenth unlike anything Delaware has seen before.”
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