RES-2020-045 Resolution designating Juneteenth as an Official County Paid Holiday

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RES - 2020 - 045 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION DESIGNATING JUNETEENTH AS AN OFFICIAL COUNTY PAID HOLIDAY WHEREAS , on January 1 , 1863 , President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation , a document that declared : " 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 , the Emancipation Proclamation , primarily a wartime measure , intentionally excluded people in the slave - holding border- states and the areas of the Confederacy that already had come under Union control ; and WHEREAS , on April 9 , 1865 , General Robert E . Lee surrendered to United States General Ulysses S . Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia , and on April 26 , 18651 US Major- General W . T . Sherman and General Joseph E . Johnston finalized the terms of surrender at the Bennett Farm House in Orange County [ now Durham ] ; and WHEREAS , on June 10 , 1865 , Major General Gordon Granger was given command of the Department of Texas , and on June 19 , 1865 , two and one - half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation , the Union soldiers led by Major General Granger arrived at Galveston , Texas with the long - awaited news that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved people were now free ; and WHEREAS , upon his arrival in Galveston , Major General Granger read General Order Number 3 , which began : " 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 rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves , and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer" ; and WHEREAS , Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day , Jubilee Day , Liberation Day , and Emancipation Day — has become a special day among African Americans to celebrate the day when all the enslaved sons and daughters of Africa in America realized their freedom ; and WHEREAS , only the State of Texas currently recognizes Juneteenth as an official state holiday ; and WHEREAS , in June 2010 , Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue proclaimed the observance of Juneteenth in North Carolina , and on June 19 , 2020 , Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed Juneteenth Day in North Carolina ; and WHEREAS , members of the United States Congress , including Senator Kamala Harris of California and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey , recently have introduced legislation to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday ; NOW , THEREFORE , BE IT RESOLVED , that the Orange County Board of Commissioners hereby designates Juneteenth as an official County paid holiday , thus providing the opportunity for employees and the community- at large to join together with