PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s law making Juneteenth a state holiday won’t officially take place until next year. But people were still celebrating Saturday, especially with President Joe Biden signing a federal law.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said the bill she signed into law this month serves to renew the commitment to living in a place “where equality, freedom, and justice for all is more than an ideal, but a reality.”
“This is a part of history for all our communities and it is time that we recognize it completely,” said the state bill’s sponsor, Assistant Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross of Portland, who’s the Black person to hold a legislative leadership position.
In 2011, then-Gov. Paul LePage signed legislation that recognized Juneteenth Independence Day, but it didn’t make it a state holiday. That will change next year with the state holiday commemorating the end of slavery.
Biden, meanwhile, signed legislation Thursday establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)