Juneteenth is the nation's youngest federal holiday, but its roots go back more than 150 years. The United States celebrated its first federally-recognized Juneteenth in 2021 after President Joe Biden signed a bill creating Juneteenth National Independence Day. Recognition of the holiday gained traction in 2020 amid nationwide protests over police killings of Black Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While signing the bill establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, Biden called Juneteenth "a day of profound weight and profound power, a day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take." It became the nation's 12th federal holiday -- the first one added since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established in 1983. Though its federal recognition is new, Juneteenth has been celebrated by generations of Black Americans. READ MORE: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nation-world/what-is-juneteenth-history-federal-holiday/507-ba48601e-842d-4542-9f48-a41655a9c412