President Joe Biden signed a rare piece of legislation on Thursday: a bill creating the first new federal holiday since 1983, when Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Jr. Day into law.

Juneteenth Independence Day commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., institutionalizing a holiday that most states already recognize and that African Americans have celebrated for more than 150 years.

I think this will go down, for me, as one of the greatest honors Ive had as president, Biden said before adding his signature.

The Senate unanimously approved the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on Tuesday and the House followed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 415 to 14 on Wednesday, with only a handful of right-wing Republicans grumbling that we already have a holiday called Independence Day.

The bills swift passage came as a surprise, since Democrats hadnt announced any plans to vote on the measure. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who has co-sponsored Juneteenth resolutions for years, called the holiday a legislative miracle, noting that it happened as Democrats struggle to enact a racial equity agenda that includes major voting rights and police reform policies.