Juneteenth has long been celebrated as marking the vote by the U.S. Congress to prohibit slavery on June 19, 1862, as well as the enforcement of that law in Texas on June 19, 1865.
Just three years ago, shortly after he was sworn into office, President Biden made it an official federal holiday. Yet another thing I like about him.
But a related event also happened on June 19, which gets much less publicity. Exactly 60 years ago today — on June 19, 1964 — the U.S. Senate finally approved the Civil Rights Act, after a long and bitter 83 day filibuster by senators from southern states.
To give you a sense of the mood back then, here is a quote from Richard Russell, one of the U.S. Senators leading the filibuster:
“We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would tend to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our [Southern] states.”
And that was a cool century after the events of 1862-1865! Alas, some battles are never completely won, but need to be fought again in every generation. To quote William Faulkner:
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
If you’re a U.S. Citizen, you might want to think about that when you vote this coming November.