2013 -- S 0169

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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2013

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S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N

RECOGNIZING "JUNETEENTH NATIONAL FREEDOM DAY" ON JUNE 19 OF EACH

YEAR

     Introduced By: Senators Metts, Pichardo, Lynch, Crowley, and Hodgson

     Date Introduced: February 06, 2013

     Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar

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     WHEREAS, First observed one hundred and thirty-six years ago, Juneteenth National

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Freedom Day is the oldest and only African-American holiday observance in the United States;

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and

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     WHEREAS, Also known as Emancipation Day, Emancipation Celebration, Freedom

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Day, Jun-Jun, and Juneteenth, Juneteenth National Freedom Day commemorates the strong

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survival instinct of African-Americans who were first brought to this country stacked in the

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bottom of slave ships in a month-long journey across the Atlantic Ocean known as the Middle

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Passage; and

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     WHEREAS, Approximately eleven and one-half million African-Americans survived the

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voyage to the New World, with the number that died likely greater, and those who did survive

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were subjected to whipping, castration, branding, and rape, and were forced to submit to slavery

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for more than two hundred years after their arrival in the United States; and

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     WHEREAS, Events in the history of the United States that led to the Civil War of 1861

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centered around sectional differences between the North and South that were based on the

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economic and social divergence caused by the existence of slavery; and

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     WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States in 1861,

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and as President, Lincoln believed and stated that the paramount object of the Civil War was to

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save the Union rather than to save or destroy slavery; and

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     WHEREAS, But Lincoln also stated his belief that all men everywhere should be free,

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thus adding to the growing anticipation of slaves that their ultimate liberation was at hand; and

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     WHEREAS, In 1862, the first clear sign that the end of slavery was imminent came when

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laws abolishing slavery in the territories of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico

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were passed; and

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     WHEREAS, In September of that same year, President Lincoln warned the eleven

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rebellious Confederate States that if they did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he

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would declare their slaves forever free via the celebrated Emancipated Proclamation; and

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     WHEREAS, Enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, however, only occurred in

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Confederate States once they were under Union Army control and Congress subsequently passed

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the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on January 31, 1865, abolishing slavery

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throughout the United States and its territories; and

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     WHEREAS, News of this action reached the states at different times, and it was not until

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June 19 of 1865, that the message of freedom reached the slaves in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana,

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Arkansas, and California; and

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     WHEREAS, Spontaneous celebrations erupted throughout the country when African-

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Americans learned of their freedom; and

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     WHEREAS, Juneteenth National Freedom Day celebrates the abolishment of slavery

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with excitement and great joy and is a reminder to all Americans of the status and importance that

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Americans of African descent hold as American citizens; now, therefore be it

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     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

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hereby urges the citizens of the State of Rhode Island to recognize the historical significance of

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Juneteenth Independence Day and to observe Juneteenth National Freedom Day on June 19th; and

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be it further

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     RESOLVED, That this Senate supports the annual celebration of Juneteenth National

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Freedom Day in order to provide an opportunity for the people of the state to learn more about

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our country’s past and to better understand the experiences that have shaped our nation; and be it

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further

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     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

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transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Governor of the State of Rhode Island and

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Reverend Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.

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