BOSTON — State Sen. Brendan Crighton helped file legislation to mandate June 19 as a Massachusetts holiday known as Juneteenth Independence Day.

One hundred and thirty-five years ago on June 19, enslaved black people in Texas received word that they were free — two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Since that time, each year on this date, people have come together in states across the nation to celebrate freedom, emancipation, and to call for transformative racial justice.

“Establishing Juneteenth as a state holiday would be a significant — and long overdue — step in commemorating the anniversary of the emancipation of the last enslaved African-Americans,” said Crighton. “Juneteenth is a time to celebrate the end of slavery and the contributions of African-Americans to the Commonwealth and our nation. It is also a time for all of us to reflect on the painful legacy of slavery and to commit to taking sustained action to eradicate racism and prejudice from our society.”

Crighton, a Lynn Democrat, is co-sponsoring the holiday legislation with state representatives Bud Willams (D-Springfield), Maria Robinson (D-Framingham), and Mindy Domb (D-Amherst), along with Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain) and Jo Comerford (D-Northampton).

On behalf of their constituents and in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives, the legislators filed An Act to make Juneteenth Independence Day in both chambers and immediately began seeking co-sponsorships on the Massachusetts House and Senate versions of the proposal.

Current law mandates only that the governor issue a proclamation and that Juneteenth be observed on the Sunday closest to June 19.

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