Story at a glance

• This week’s Juneteenth holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States in 1865.

• This Wednesday also marks 60 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate.

• The occasion serves as a reminder that many of the rights afforded to Black Americans were not realized when the last slaves were freed, and that the struggle for complete freedom of all citizens is ongoing.

(NewsNation) — This week’s Juneteenth holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, but this Wednesday also marks 60 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate. The occasion serves as a reminder that many of the rights afforded to Black Americans were not realized when the last slaves were freed, and that the struggle for complete freedom of all citizens is ongoing.

“Yes, we’ve achieved the freedom of the enslaved people,” U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told NewsNation. “But there is still the freedom of opportunity, the freedom (for all) to thrive economically, the freedom for people to love who they love, and the freedom for women to make their own health care decisions.”

He added: “This is all the underlying issue of freedom and the freedom of people to pursue their lives unobstructed.”

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth has been recognized as a federal holiday since 2021, when President Joe Biden officially added the first national holiday since Martin Luther King. Jr. Day became a national holiday in 1983.

Biden signed the measure into law after the U.S. Senate passed the bill unanimously; it had previously passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 415-14 vote.

Also known as “Freedom........

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