The House of Representatives voted 415-14 on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19, the 12th federal holiday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law.

Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word did not reach the last enslaved black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas.

That was also about two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the Southern states.

It is the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr Day was created in 1983.

"Our federal holidays are purposely few in number and recognize the most important milestones," Democratic representative Carolyn Maloney said.

"I cannot think of a more important milestone to commemorate than the end of slavery in the United States."

The Senate passed the bill a day earlier under a unanimous consent agreement that expedites the process for considering legislation.

It takes just one senator's objection to block such agreements.

Australian Associated Press