Washington — Former President Joe Biden went to Galveston, Texas, on Thursday to join a Juneteenth Celebration Service at a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church.
He took part in the service at the Reedy Chapel AME Church, one of the locations where an order announcing the end of slavery in Texas was read on June 19, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, according to the church.
In 2021, Biden signed into law a measure that made June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. Called the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, the bill passed the House with overwhelming support and was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate.
Biden said at the time that June 19 serves as a “day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country, and continues to take.” Juneteenth became the nation’s first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983.
Several speakers recognized Biden during Thursday’s service, including Galveston Mayor Craig Brown, who presented Biden with a plaque noting his role in making Juneteenth a national holiday.
“I still consider our special guest, President Joe Biden, as my president,” Brown said to applause.
Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
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