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H. 5415

STATUS INFORMATION

House Resolution
Sponsors: Rep. Parks
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gm\24783hb22.docx

Introduced in the House on June 15, 2022
Adopted by the House on June 15, 2022

Summary: Juneteenth

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   6/15/2022  House   Introduced and adopted (House Journal-page 23)

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VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

6/15/2022

TO CONGRATULATE THE NATION UPON THE SIGNAGE OF THE JUNETEENTH NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE DAY ACT INTO LAW AND THE TOWN OF MCCORMICK ON ITS MUCH-ANTICIPATED JUNETEENTH 2022 CELEBRATION.

Whereas, although records indicate African slaves were brought to the Americas in 1441, 1619 is generally accepted as the date African slaves arrived in the British Colony of Jamestown, Virginia; and

Whereas, African slaves were brought to North America and dehumanized as property to be bought and sold, work, mate, and produce more slaves; and

Whereas, these "Charters of Freedom", the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights did not provide freedom for African slaves; and

Whereas, the horrors of slavery could include: loss of limbs; loss of family; sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; lack of sanitation; inadequate food, water, clothing, and health care; improper shelter; no opportunities for schooling; and even loss of life by hanging or burning with no penalty for the perpetrators; and

Whereas, the toll of having no ownership, money, house, land, animals, or tools, and not knowing from day to day how their lives might change, was great indeed. The loss of pride, dignity, respect, and self-esteem followed the other injustices, and restrictions on independent thinking were encouraged in the slave population; and

Whereas, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney stated in 1857, "All blacks, slaves as well as free, were not and could never become citizens of the United States....The framers of the Constitution believed that blacks had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. Blacks could be bought, and profit could be made by it."; and

Whereas, although the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in the rebel states, but many slave owners continued to hold slaves. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day, celebrates the end of slavery in the nation when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger declared the end of the Civil War and slavery in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. Nevertheless, some slave masters withheld this information from their slaves, holding them over through another harvest season; and

Whereas, Texans celebrated Juneteenth in 1866 with community events, including parades, cookouts, historical and cultural readings, prayer meetings, and musical concerts. Over time, localities developed their own traditions which families carried with them as they emigrated from Texas to other parts of the nation; and

Whereas, Juneteenth officially became a Texas state holiday on January 1, 1980, when Representative Al Edwards, a freshman state representative, put forward House Bill 1016, making Texas the first state to grant the Juneteenth celebration. Since then the forty-nine other states and the District of Columbia have followed; and

Whereas, on June 1, 2021, President Joseph Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law and issued a proclamation to celebrate the observance of Juneteenth. The Juneteenth Celebration can help all citizens to acknowledge the turbulent past of an enslaved people, while building relationships for a greater future for all; and

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is pleased to learn that Juneteenth 2022 will be celebrated at various locations throughout the Town of McCormick from June 17 through 19 with a parade, a community program, a banquet, and the Juneteenth Gospel Explosion. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, congratulate the nation upon the signage of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law and the Town of McCormick on its much-anticipated Juneteenth 2022 Celebration.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Dr. James A. Franklin, Sr., of the Mims Foundation.

This web page was last updated on June 23, 2022 at 11:27 AM