R-2022-08RESOLUTION NO. __
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF
MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE, FLORIDA; RECOGNIZING
JUNETEENTH AS A VILLAGE HOLIDAY; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, Juneteenth National Independence Day ("Juneteenth") is the oldest
and only African American holiday observance in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth commemorates the strong survival instincts of African
Americans who were taken from their homes, families and forcefully brought to this
country on slave ships during a horrific journey across the Atlantic Ocean, known as the
"Middle Passage;" and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln decreed the Emancipation Proclamation
on January 1, 1863, proclaiming "that all persons held as slaves" "are, and henceforward
shall be free," but not everyone in Confederate territory was immediately freed; and
WHEREAS, news of the end of slavery did not reach the frontier areas of the
United States, in particular the State of Texas and the other Southwestern States, until
more than 2 ½ years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation on January 1, 1863; and
WHEREAS, freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union
troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas and announced that the more than 250,000
enslaved Black people in the state, were free by executive decree; and
WHEREAS, this day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people
in Texas and memorialized the day all the remaining slaves were freed; and
WHEREAS, many states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday, including
Florida, which in 1991 officially designated June 19 of each year as "Juneteenth Day;"
and,
WHEREAS, on June 17, 2021, Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday;
and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth is now celebrated broadly throughout the United States
as a special day of observance in recognition of the emancipation of all slaves in the
United States and in recognition of the centuries-long fight to redeem the American creed
of equality for all and the fundamental principle that "none are free until all are free;" and
WHEREAS, the Village Council finds that it is in the best interest and welfare of
the residents of the Village to recognize Juneteenth as a Village Holiday.
Resolution No. 2022-_ 1
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