title
A resolution recognizing June 19, 2021 as Juneteenth in Nashville and Davidson County and commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
body
WHEREAS, Juneteenth, also known as "Juneteenth Independence Day," "Emancipation Day," "Emancipation Celebration," and "Freedom Day," recognizes the emancipation of those who were enslaved in the United States and is observed annually on June 19; and
WHEREAS, June 19, 1865 marks the date when the last enslaved African-Americans in America, approximately 250,000 people, were told they were free when General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and issued General Order No. 3, almost two and a half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; and
WHEREAS, events in the history of the United States that led to the start of the Civil War in 1861 centered on sectional differences between the North and the South that were based on the economic and social divergence caused by the existence of slavery; and
WHEREAS, in 1862, the first clear signs that the end of slavery was imminent appeared when laws abolishing slavery were adopted in the territories of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, in September 1862, President Lincoln issued the celebrated Emancipation Proclamation, warning the rebellious Confederate states that he would declare their slaves "forever free" if those states did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863; and
WHEREAS, enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation occurred only in Confederate states that were under Union Army control; and
WHEREAS, on January 31, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the United States and its territories; and
WHEREAS, spontaneous celebration erupted throughout the country when African Americans learned of their freedom; and
WHEREAS, for formerly enslaved African Americans, the Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, prayin...
Click here for full text