ORDINANCE NO. _________SERIES 2022
TITLE
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING THE JUNETEENTH JUBILEE COMMISSION.
BODY
SPONSORED BY: COUNCIL MEMBERS PAULA MCCRANEY, JECOREY ARTHUR, KEISHA DORSEY, BARBARA SHANKLIN, DONNA PURVIS,
AND COUNCIL PRESIDENT JAMES
WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, established that all enslaved people in Confederate States then in rebellion against the Union "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free;" and
WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation did not instantly free all enslaved people in America, but applied only to places under Confederate control and not to slave-holding border states or rebel areas already under Union control; and
WHEREAS, it is important for all Americans to recognize that for many enslaved Black Americans, freedom did not come until years later; and
WHEREAS, on June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas and announced that 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were freed by executive order and the day became known as "Juneteenth" by the newly freed people of Texas; and
WHEREAS, in Kentucky, slavery did not officially end until December 18, 1865, with the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, which was not ratified by the Commonwealth of Kentucky until the 1976 Bicentennial year; and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth is the oldest known holiday commemorating the final communication of the abolition of slavery in the United States; and
WHEREAS, an inaugural Juneteenth Jubilee Commission, established February 1, 2021 by Mayoral Executive Order and including a broad cross section of community representation, successfully created a series of events to celebrate Juneteenth and educate residents regarding the profound significance of the occasion; and
WHEREAS, establishing a framework through which community awareness of and participation in recognition of Juneteenth on an annual basis will broaden our mutual understandings of one another;...
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