Change.org - Make Juneteenth a federal holiday

June 19th, or Juneteenth, is a day celebrating the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy. For years Opal, now 93 years old, has fought to make Juneteenth a national holiday. She’s started this petition, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have joined her to commemorate this important day of freedom. Add your name to Opal’s petition now to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Make Juneteenth a National Holiday in 2020

151,343 have signed Dione Sims’s petition. Let’s get to 200,000!

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Hello, I am Opal Lee from Fort Worth, TX and I am 93 years old. I want Juneteenth to be recognized as a national day of observance like Flag Day. Yes, Juneteenth originated in TX, but 46 states now have it as a state day of observance to commemorate the ending of slavery. I believe Juneteenth can be a unifier because it recognizes that slaves didn’t free themselves and that they had help, from Quakers along the Underground Railroad, abolitionists both black and white like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, soldiers and many others who gave their lives for the freedom of the enslaved.

I started a campaign to walk to Washington, DC 2016 and have relaunched it this summer 2019 to bring awareness to the fact that this is more than a notion and that there is support for it all across this nation. There is legislation that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson authored in 2012 to update US Code 36 that lists all the national observances to include Juneteenth, it only needs to be updated and passed into law.

My goal with this petition and my walk is to show the Congress and the President that I am not alone in my desire to see national recognition of a day to celebrate “Freedom for All”.  Will you please sign my petition to let them know as well? You can get more information at www.opalswalk2dc.com

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The person (or organization) who started this petition is not affiliated with Change.org. Change.org did not create this petition and is not responsible for the petition content.

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