HomeMy Public PortalAbout2022 0614 Juneteenth Day of ObservancecrrY OF VERD `' I/
PROCLAM
WHEREAS, on June 19th, 1865, nearly two and one-half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
declared enslaved people held in areas still in rebellion "are and henceforward shall be free", this news made it to
Galveston, Texas via General Orders, Number 3 issued by MG Gordon Granger.
WHEREAS, MG Granger's order stated "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation
from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and
rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them
becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present
homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that
they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."
WHEREAS, the President of the United States, in 2021, created a new Federal holiday celebrating the freedoms
gained on Juneteenth and remembering the "moral stain and terrible toll of slavery on our country."
WHEREAS, in the words of the President's proclamation on the first official Federal Juneteenth in 2021, "we
recommit ourselves to the work of equity, equality, and justice...we celebrate the centuries of struggle, courage,
and hope that have brought us to this time of progress and possibility."
THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Anthony Heddlesten, Mayor of the City of Riverdale, Iowa, do hereby proclaim
that June 19th as
4J NETE H
OF0
•
SERVICE
In Riverdale, and encourage all staff, residents, and visitors to learn more about the path to freedom that so many
fought and died for.
Anthony Heddlesten, Mayor
City of Riverdale, Iowa
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/18/a-procla mation-on-iuneteenth-day-of-observance-2021/
httos://www.archivesfoundation.org/ea#:—:text=Through%20the%20generous%20support%20of,'Juneteenth'%20General %200rder%20No.
https://www. pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-is-iuneteenth/