Agenda 09-03-19 Item 4-c - 400 Years Proclamation

Browse Search

1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: September 3, 2019 Action Agenda Item No. 4-c SUBJECT: 400 Years Proclamation DEPARTMENT: Board of Commissioners ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Proclamation Annette Moore, Director, Human Rights and Relations, 919-245-2317 PURPOSE: To consider a proclamation declaring August 1, 2019 through July 31, 2020 as a year of remembrance to commemorate the 400th anniversary of unfree Africans first arriving in English North America. BACKGROUND: In 1619 unfree Africans, "some 20. and odd Negroes," arrived in the English settlement that would become Virginia. This marked the beginning of the period in America where people of Africa were forcibly taken from their homeland, transported to the American colonies, and committed to lifelong slavery. The Human Relation Commission (HRC) requests that the Board of County Commissioners recognize the harrowing experience of the Africans who first came to the shores of English North America and the plight and burden of their descendants with this Proclamation. Organizations throughout Orange County have had events to commemorate the 400th year anniversary since January 2019, either as an underlying theme or as the backdrop to events. Some events include: • Inaugural Reception of the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition [HRC is a member] • OCCRC Symposium: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching • 110th Anniversary of the Founding of the NAACP • 400 Years: Sounds of Freedom Music Festival by Free Spirit Freedom • 154th Juneteenth Celebration • Screening of "The Long Shadow" • Symposium: Reconstruction, Redemption and the On-Going Struggle for Freedom There are more to events planned through to August 2020. The Human Relations Commission will keep you informed as those event dates become available. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with consideration of the proclamation.