HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2020-045 Resolution designating Juneteenth as an Official County Paid Holiday RES - 2020 - 045
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION DESIGNATING JUNETEENTH AS AN OFFICIAL COUNTY PAID
HOLIDAY
WHEREAS , on January 1 , 1863 , President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation , a document that declared : " all persons held as slaves within any State or
designated part of a State , the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the
United States , shall be then , thenceforward , and forever free ; " and
WHEREAS , the Emancipation Proclamation , primarily a wartime measure , intentionally
excluded people in the slave - holding border- states and the areas of the Confederacy
that already had come under Union control ; and
WHEREAS , on April 9 , 1865 , General Robert E . Lee surrendered to United States
General Ulysses S . Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia , and on April 26 ,
18651 US Major- General W . T . Sherman and General Joseph E . Johnston finalized the
terms of surrender at the Bennett Farm House in Orange County [ now Durham ] ; and
WHEREAS , on June 10 , 1865 , Major General Gordon Granger was given command of
the Department of Texas , and on June 19 , 1865 , two and one - half years after the
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation , the Union soldiers led by Major General
Granger arrived at Galveston , Texas with the long - awaited news that the Civil War had
ended and that enslaved people were now free ; and
WHEREAS , upon his arrival in Galveston , Major General Granger read General Order
Number 3 , which began : " The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a
Proclamation from the Executive of the United States , all slaves are free . This involves
an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves ,
and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer
and free laborer" ; and
WHEREAS , Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day , Jubilee Day , Liberation Day ,
and Emancipation Day — has become a special day among African Americans to
celebrate the day when all the enslaved sons and daughters of Africa in America
realized their freedom ; and
WHEREAS , only the State of Texas currently recognizes Juneteenth as an official state
holiday ; and
WHEREAS , in June 2010 , Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue proclaimed the observance
of Juneteenth in North Carolina , and on June 19 , 2020 , Governor Roy Cooper
proclaimed Juneteenth Day in North Carolina ; and
WHEREAS , members of the United States Congress , including Senator Kamala Harris
of California and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey , recently have introduced
legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday ;
NOW , THEREFORE , BE IT RESOLVED , that the Orange County Board of
Commissioners hereby designates Juneteenth as an official County paid holiday , thus
providing the opportunity for employees and the community- at large to join together with
the descendants of enslaved Africans to observe the end of slavery and the liberation of
all people in the United States of America ; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that the Orange County Board of Commissioners urges
state and federal legislators to sponsor legislation making Juneteenth an official state
and federal holiday ; and
BE IT MOREOVER RESOLVED , that the Orange County Board of Commissioners
directs the Clerk to the Board ' s Office to forward a copy of this resolution to the Chapel
Hill Town Council , the Carrboro Town Council , the Hillsborough Board of
Commissioners , the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education , and the
Orange County Schools Board of Education .
This the 1st Day of September , 2020 .
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