Presidential Documents

32717 

Federal Register 

Vol. 86, No. 118 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 10229 of June 18, 2021 

Juneteenth Day of Observance, 2021 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

On June 19, 1865—nearly nine decades after our Nation’s founding, and 

more than 2 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation—enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally received word that 

they were free from bondage. As those who were formerly enslaved were 

recognized for the first time as citizens, Black Americans came to commemorate Juneteenth with celebrations across the country, building new lives 

and a new tradition that we honor today. In its celebration of freedom, 

Juneteenth is a day that should be recognized by all Americans. And that 

is why I am proud to have consecrated Juneteenth as our newest national 

holiday. 

Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and power. 

A day in which we remember the moral stain and terrible toll of slavery 

on our country—what I’ve long called America’s original sin. A long legacy 

of systemic racism, inequality, and inhumanity. 

But it is a day that also reminds us of our incredible capacity to heal, 

hope, and emerge from our darkest moments with purpose and resolve. 

As I said on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, great 

nations don’t ignore the most painful chapters of their past. Great nations 

confront them. We come to terms with them. 

On Juneteenth, we recommit ourselves to the work of equity, equality, and 

justice. And, we celebrate the centuries of struggle, courage, and hope that 

have brought us to this time of progress and possibility. That work has 

been led throughout our history by abolitionists and educators, civil rights 

advocates and lawyers, courageous activists and trade unionists, public officials, and everyday Americans who have helped make real the ideals of 

our founding documents for all. 

There is still more work to do. As we emerge from the long, dark winter 

of the COVID–19 pandemic, for example, racial equity remains at the heart 

of our efforts to vaccinate the Nation and beat the virus. We must recognize 

that Black Americans, among other people of color, have shouldered a 

disproportionate burden of loss—while also carrying us through disproportionately as essential workers and health care providers on the front lines 

of the crisis. 

Psalm 30 proclaims that ‘‘weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh 

in the morning.’’ Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery 

and discrimination, and the promise of a brighter morning to come. My 

Administration is committed to building an economy—and a Nation—that 

brings everyone along, and finally delivers our Nation’s founding promise 

to Black Americans. Together, we will lay the roots of real and lasting 

justice, so that we can become the extraordinary country that was promised 

to all Americans. 

Juneteenth not only commemorates the past. It calls us to action today. 


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32718 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 118 / Wednesday, June 23, 2021 / Presidential Documents 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 19, 2021, 

as Juneteenth Day of Observance. I call upon the people of the United 

States to acknowledge and celebrate the end of the Civil War and the 

emancipation of Black Americans, and commit together to eradicate systemic 

racism that still undermines our founding ideals and collective prosperity. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day 

of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the 

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortyfifth. 

[FR Doc. 2021–13451 

Filed 6–22–21; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3295–F1–P 


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