DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – Juneteenth celebrations are being held across North Texas. The Federal holiday is acknowledged on June 19.
On Monday, U.S. Senator John Cornyn will participate in a 2.5-mile walk with “Grandmother of Juneteenth” Ms. Opal Lee and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker to recognize the years it took for the news of their freedom to reach enslaved people in Texas after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln in 1863. The annual walk covers part of the Historic Southside neighborhood near the site of the future home of the National Juneteenth Museum.
In 2021, Senator Cornyn’s legislation with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to make Juneteenth a federal holiday was signed into law. Senator Cornyn has led Senate resolutions honoring Juneteenth every year since 2011. He also authored legislation, now law, with Congresswoman Jackson Lee to require a federal study of the Emancipation National Historic Trail, a 51-mile route from the former Osterman Building and Reedy Chapel in Galveston to Freedmen’s Town and Emancipation Park in Houston.
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