AGENDA ITEM #4
TOWN OF FAIRFAX
STAFF REPORT
June 15, 2022
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Michele Gardner, Town Clerk
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Declaring June 19th (Juneteenth) a Town Holiday ______________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the Resolution.
DISCUSSION
The attached resolution, if adopted by the Town Council, would make June 19th a holiday in the Town. The resolution describes the origin and significance of Juneteenth, as well as its importance to the community.
FISCAL IMPACT
None at this time.
ATTACHMENT
Resolution
1 RESOLUTION 22-__
A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX DECLARING JUNE 19TH (JUNETEENTH) A HOLIDAY IN THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX WHEREAS, Juneteenth, or Juneteenth Independence Day, commemorates the traditional observance of the end of slavery in the United States and is observed annually on June 19; and
WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln declared that "in giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth;" and WHEREAS, on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that "all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free;" and
WHEREAS, President Lincoln correctly believed slavery to be in violation of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and that its abolition represented a "new birth of freedom" for the United States; and
WHEREAS, more than two years would pass before the news reached African Americans living in Texas, when on June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger and his regiment arrived in Galveston and spread the word that slavery had been abolished; and
WHEREAS, the following year, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas and have continued across the United States throughout the years; and WHEREAS, throughout our nation, Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery and is celebrated annually as a historical and memorable tribute to our country's African American Heritage; and WHEREAS, Juneteenth is an important opportunity to honor the principles of the Declaration of Independence and celebrate the achievements and contributions African Americans have made, and continue to make, in Fairfax and across the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Fairfax is proud to honor Juneteenth in an effort to promote and enhance the unity and spiritual strength that brought African Americans out of slavery and sustained their dignity and prosperity to the present day; 2 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Fairfax that June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, is hereby declared a holiday in the Town of Fairfax.
The foregoing resolution was duly and regularly adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Fairfax at a special meeting held in said town on the 15th day of June 2022, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
_______________________________
Stephanie Hellman, Mayor
ATTEST:
_________________________
Michele Gardner, Town Clerk