Organic Act Day: Virgin Islands
Celebrating a new constitution
by Liz Olson
Each year, on the third Monday in June, the Virgin Islands recognize Organic Act Day,
which commemorates the organization of a new government in the U.S. Virgin
Islands. The U.S. Congress granted citizenship to Virgin Islanders in 1927
and universal suffrage was given in 1936 to all persons who could read and
write English, but the Islanders did not have their own government. On June
22, 1936, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt signed the Organic Act law that gave the Virgin Islands their
own Constitution. President Dwight D.
Eisenhower signed a revised Organic Act on July 22, 1954, unifying the
Islands’ legislature. A unicameral 15-person legislature serves the
Virgin Islands, and congressional legislation gave the Islands a nonvoting
representative in Congress. Residents of the islands largely enjoy the same
rights as mainlanders, but they cannot vote in presidential
elections.
Organic Act Day is observed during Carnival—a
month-long celebration in the Virgin Islands that includes parades,
fireworks, calypso music and dancing,
and more.
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