Parades, picnics, and historical events are held on Saturday to commemorate the June Festival in the United States. This day has greater significance after Congress and President Joe Biden recognized the annual commemoration of the effective end of slavery as a federal holiday.

The June Festival commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to the enslaved blacks in Texas two months after the surrender of the Confederacy. At least on paper, the Emancipation Proclamation was about two and a half years after the liberation of slaves in the southern states.

Biden signed a bill on Thursday, creating June National Independence Day.

Since June 19 is a Saturday, the government celebrates the holiday on Friday.

At least nine states designated June Day as an official paid holiday, and all states except Texas took action after Negro Freud was killed in Minneapolis last year.

In Galveston, Texas, the birthplace of the festival, the celebrations included the presentation of a 5,000 square foot mural called “Absolute Equality.”

Opal Lee, 94, stood beside Biden when he signed the bill. He returned to Fort Worth, Texas, and led a 4 km (2.5 mile) walk, symbolizing the cost of slaves in Texas. It took two and a half years to discover that they were released.

The black community in Sacramento has organized the June Festival for 20 years, and this year’s features are parades, talent shows, food exhibitions, reading declarations of liberation, and even a golf tournament.

Organizer Gary Simon said: “This is the first June festival to be recognized by the public in the country and society, not just in the black community.” “In the past few years, we have seen non-black people come to The number of people here has increased, and I see a difference in the conversation that took place today.”