Summary

Two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate forces, and one month after the last official battle of the Civil War, the last Africans and African-Americans in bondage were told of their freedom by Union forces.

Story

The Metropolitan King County Council today recognized Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of more than two centuries of bondage of Americans of African descent in the United States.

“Juneteenth is now the closest occasion for there being a true “freedom day” to celebrate in this country for people of African descent,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett, the sponsor of the proclamation. “Now, more than ever, people of Martin Luther King, Jr. County should understand the significance of Juneteenth.”

Two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, two months after Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate forces, and one month after the last official battle of the Civil War, the last Africans and African-Americans in bondage were told of their freedom by Union forces. That date, June 19, 1865, became a day of celebration for the African-American descendants of those freed slaves.

As those descendants left Texas and spread throughout the United States, they took the celebration with them, a recognition and remembrance of the challenges they faced then and today.

Representatives of the Atlantic Street Center and Therapeutic Health Services Support Services join members after the Council declared June 19 "Juneteenth" in King County

WHEREAS, Juneteenth commemorates the day on June 19, 1865, when African slaves in Texas were told by Major General Gordon Granger that they are now “free” and that their 246 years of chattel slavery had ended; and

WHEREAS, the abolishment of slavery throughout the U.S. had actually taken place some two and a half years earlier when President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but resistance to his Executive Order and continued conflict in Texas regarding the abolishment of slavery significantly delayed the freedom of slaves; and

WHEREAS, a year after Major Granger’s announcement, on June 19, 1866, the freed African American men and women in Texas held the first “Juneteenth” or African American Independence Day celebration, which would later spread to all corners of the country; and

WHEREAS, in 1979, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday and has been followed by 41 other states that have recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday or holiday observance; and

WHEREAS, Juneteenth is now the closest occasion for there being a true “freedom day” to celebrate in this country for people of African descent; and

WHEREAS, in King County, Juneteenth will be celebrated in people’s homes and neighborhoods, with the longest and largest celebration being held by the Central Area Chamber of Commerce;

NOW, THEREFORE, we, the Metropolitan King County Council, recognize the historic event of

and encourage all residents of Martin Luther King, Jr. County to join us in its celebration.

DATED this eighteenth day of June, 2018.