MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday, a day commemorating the emancipation of the last remaining slaves in the U.S., though the bill’s passage prompted frustration from Black Democrats who noted that similar efforts they championed for years had failed.
House Bill 165, sponsored by Rep. Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, would make Juneteenth an official state holiday in Alabama. Juneteenth was proclaimed as a state holiday the past four consecutive years by Gov. Kay Ivey, though Rehm’s bill would make the holiday permanent.
“This is a bill that is constituent driven, that is brought to me by my constituents,” Rehm said when introducing his bill on the House floor. “…To me, this is a very important holiday because Juneteenth celebrates the end of 330 years of the West African slave trade.”
The most recent effort to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday was carried last year by Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, though it was eventually changed via a bill substitute to give state employees the option to choose between recognizing Juneteenth and the existing Jefferson Davis Day in June, honoring the first and only president of the Confederacy.
That substitute was pushed for by Republicans who cited concerns over the costs to taxpayers from adding a new state holiday.
The bill ultimately failed to become law, having passed in the House but never coming up for a vote in the Senate. Rehm’s renewed effort to establish Juneteenth as a state holiday passed out of a House committee last month, leading to Givan, a member of the committee, abruptly leaving the room out of frustration.
Now on the House floor for the second year in a row, House Democrats voiced similar frustrations to those expressed by Givan last month.
“We’ve had people carry a Juneteenth bill for quite some time, and I’m going to say it over and over again: when we bring the bill, it’s not a good bill, but it’s about us, it’s all about us,” said Rep. Mary Moore, a Black Democrat from Birmingham.
“But we can’t carry a bill to acknowledge what has happened to us, get it out of committee, but you can bring the bill and get it out of committee, a bill that’s about us! There’s something wrong with that, that the only way that it could be a good bill is if somebody else carries it, and not the people that were affected by it in the first place.”
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Mobile, voiced similar frustrations on the House floor, citing the unsuccessful efforts from Black lawmakers to carry the bill.
“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you and we are grateful for the bill, but why was this not a good bill before?” Bracy asked. “Why was this not a good bill for generations, why was this not a good bill when Rep. (Patrice) McClammy and Rep. (Thomas) Jackson and Rep. Givan were pushing this?”
Rehm said that he respected and understood Bracy’s position, but suggested the bill’s newfound support could have been the result of state leaders having four years of data regarding the cost burden of adding a new state holiday, and not necessarily the fact that a white Republican lawmaker was carrying it.
“I think what made this a little bit more possible now was the fact that the governor now has demonstrated we’ve had it as a holiday four years in a row,” Rehm said.
“Any type of opposition I have had on this is relating to adding the additional holiday and what the cost is. I’m not saying that your points are wrong, but that did make the difference, that we can understand that after four years of declaring it as a holiday, and it didn’t break the bank.”
Rehm introduced a bill substitute that would remove the compromise component, which, similar to Givan’s bill from last year, would have seen state employees have to choose between celebrating Juneteenth or Jefferson Davis Day. The substitute was adopted 83-3.
An amendment was also introduced that changed the bill’s effective date from June 30 to June 1, 2025, allowing Alabamians to celebrate the holiday this year, as the holiday is celebrated on June 19. House members passed the amendment as well.
In its final vote, HB165 passed with a vote of 85-4, with Reps. Jim Carns, R-Birmingham, Jamie Kiel, R-Russellville, Shane Stringer, R-Citronelle, and Andy Whitt, R-Harvest, voting against the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Recognized in at least 28 states, Juneteenth commemorates June 19 of 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger visited Galveston, Texas, and publicly proclaimed among the last remaining slaves to be free men and women. While Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation decreed the more than 3.5 million slaves be freed, the lack of Union troops in Texas made enforcement of the proclamation weak for years.