71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
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 LC 3285
 
                           A-Engrossed
 
                   Senate Joint Resolution 31
                  Ordered by the Senate May 31
            Including Senate Amendments dated May 31
 
Sponsored by Senator GORDLY
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure.
 
  Proclaims Juneteenth, June 19 of each year, to be day for
celebration statewide of dignity and freedom of all citizens.
 
                        JOINT RESOLUTION
  Whereas the Independence Day movement initiated by the
Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, did not include the
enslaved descendants of Africans, nor were they recognized as
full human beings under the Declaration of Independence; and
  Whereas President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order
known as the Emancipation Proclamation that granted freedom to
slaves in the states of the Confederacy on January 1, 1863; and
  Whereas slave owners in the Confederate states continued to
enslave people in defiance of the Emancipation Proclamation; and
  Whereas, after the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the Union
army was dispatched to the Confederate states to restore order
and to ensure that the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced;
and
  Whereas, when Union Major General Gordon Granger read General
Order Number 3 in the Gulf Coast town of Galveston, Texas, on
June 19, 1865, containing those most important words, 'all slaves
are free,' impromptu celebrations erupted across the state as the
long-delayed news spread; and
  Whereas June 19 is the oldest and most widely known celebration
of African-American emancipation and a time for revival meetings,
family reunions and celebrations of freedom, including
pilgrimages by slaves and descendants of slaves to Galveston; and
  Whereas June 19 is the freedom forerunner to the Thirteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted
freedom to all slaves born in the United States, and the date is
pivotal in our nation's Independence Day movement; and
  Whereas in 1997 the 105th United States Congress passed Senate
Joint Resolution 11 and House Joint Resolution 56 officially
recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day; and
  Whereas a formal apology for slavery, House Concurrent
Resolution 356, was sponsored in the United States Congress by
Representative Tony Hall of Ohio at the first annual Washington
Juneteenth 2000 National Holiday Observance; and
 
  Whereas Idaho, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Delaware and Alaska
have already recognized the end of slavery in the United States
through a Juneteenth state holiday, and thousands of petitions
have been sent to the White House urging President Bush to
declare June 19 a national holiday; and
  Whereas if a Presidential Proclamation were issued, Juneteenth
would be recognized as a national holiday and a very significant
step would be taken to bring healing in the United States from
the devastation caused by slavery; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  That we, the members of the Seventy-first Legislative Assembly,
do hereby declare Juneteenth, June 19 of each year, to be a day
for celebration statewide of the dignity and freedom of all
citizens.
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