The Senate on Monday passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which categorizes lynching as a federal hate crime. The bill now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature.

Although it was a momentous occasion, with the bill approved by unanimous consent in the upper chamber a week after it passed the House by a 422-3 vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the long wait remains a “bitter stain” on the United States more than a century after the first anti-lynching legislation was introduced in Congress.