A Texas lawmaker wants Juneteenth to be an official state holiday.
State representative Carl Sherman says state institutions and schools would be closed on June 19th, the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston were finally told they were free. He equates this to the Jewish Holiday of Passover.
"Commemorating their release from bondage in Egypt, but that was different because the Jews then left Egypt, but the slaves here remained in this country, which created other challenges."
The Lancaster Democrat also notes that once slaves were freed, many were ordered into the convict leasing program, which became widespread in the south at the end of the Civil War.
Sherman says celebrating Juneteenth allows all Americans to celebrate their freedom.
