Joe Biden, the former president, is scheduled to attend a Juneteenth celebration at the historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Galveston, Texas.
Sources familiar with the arrangements have confirmed the former president’s planned attendance, though they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
In 2021, Biden signed legislation officially recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, bringing news of emancipation to enslaved African Americans, effectively marking the end of slavery.
The Juneteenth event will take place on Thursday at the Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Galveston.
According to the Galveston County Daily News, Reedy Chapel, the first and oldest operating AME church in Texas, is one of the locations where the order announcing the end of slavery in Texas was initially proclaimed in 1865.
