(GARY, Ind.) — There’s a push in Washington and at the statehouse to make what’s been called America’s second independence day a national holiday.
Juneteenth marks the date of a Union Army proclamation in Texas, two months after the end of the Civil War, informing slaves they were free. Gary State Senator Eddie Melton (D) says the U.S. needs to fix racial disparities in health care, education, and economic opportunity, but making Juneteenth a holiday would celebrate equality and freedom for all. And he says it would fill what he says is often a gap in school history courses.
Indiana Republican Todd Young is one of 41 sponsors of a U.S. Senate bill to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The bill’s sponsors include 13 Republicans, 26 Democrats, and the chamber’s two independents, who both caucus with Democrats. Melton says he and Gary Representative Ragen Hatcher (D) will author bills next year to make it a state holiday, whether the federal bill passes or not.
There are Juneteenth observances in all but three states, but only Texas makes it a full state holiday.
