John Cornyn: “one of the most defining days for our country throughout our Nation's history was when President Lincoln issued the…”

“one of the most defining days for our country throughout our Nation's history was when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves. It marked the end of one of the most shameful chapters in our country's history. But slaves in Texas wouldn't learn this life- altering news for nearly 2\1/2\ years. It wasn't until June 19, 1865--the day we now know as Juneteenth-- that Major General Gordon Granger and the Union troops arrived at Galveston, TX, and shared the news that all formerly enslaved people were now free. These newly freed men and women set out from Galveston and spread the news, and they began their lives anew. Many traveled toward nearby Houston, and the news eventually reached the more than 250,000 slaves throughout the State of Texas. In 1979, Texas was the first of what would become many States to proclaim the day Juneteenth as an official State holiday--1979. Every year on June 19, you will find parades, concerts, church picnics, family barbecues, and countless other Juneteenth events throughout the State. I have joined a number of those Juneteenth celebrations over the years, but the one in 2021 in Galveston, the birth place of Juneteenth, will always stand out as one of my favorites. Just 2 days before that celebration, a bill I authored with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was signed into law, officially establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday--not just a State holiday, a national holiday.…”