Press Releases
Contact:
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
For Immediate Release
06/19/2007
Pelosi: ‘Juneteenth is America’s Reminder of a Past of Inequality and a Future of Justice for All Citizens’
Washington,
D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today in honor of
Juneteenth, the day in 1865 that news spread that the Civil War was over and
that all slaves were free:
“In his famous Gettysburg address, President
Abraham Lincoln promised a new birth of freedom in our nation. And today we
commemorate the day of new birth in which all people in America were made free:
June 19, 1865.
"Known as Juneteenth, this is the
day when Union Major General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas to issue the President’s
executive order, known to us as the Emancipation Proclamation. Although the
Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, it took almost
two and half years for the Proclamation to be enforced throughout all of the
United
States.
“Juneteenth has evolved into a
national day of reflection and celebration for millions of Americans across the
country. Juneteenth is America’s reminder of a
past of inequality, and a future of justice for all citizens. It is a reference
point from which to appreciate the progress made in our society, toward the
ideal of equality that is America’s heritage and
hope.”