Social justice and political unrest have pushed Juneteenth into the national spotlight. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, the day the last enslaved Blacks in Galveston, Texas received the news they were free.
U.S. President Joe Biden is applauded as he reaches for a pen to sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law as Opal Lee, a 94-year-old activist and retired educator in Fort Worth, Texas, reacts with Vice President Kamala Harris in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 17, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria