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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: June 1, 2021 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-b <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution Supporting Juneteenth 2021 <br /> DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Resolution Renee Price, Chair, BOCC, (919) 245- <br /> 2130 <br /> Annette Moore, Human Rights and <br /> Relations, (919) 245-2317 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider a resolution affirming the Board of Commissioners' support of previous <br /> Board action to make Juneteenth a paid County holiday in this the inaugural year of observing <br /> Juneteenth on June 19, 2021. <br /> BACKGROUND: On June 19, 1865, more than two years after the signing of the emancipation <br /> proclamation, Union Major General Gordon Granger went to Galveston, Texas to deliver the news <br /> to enslaved people that they were free. The first Juneteenth in 1866 in Texas was celebrated in <br /> Texas was a community event where people gathered together for prayer, food, song and dance. <br /> Since then, Texas families have emigrated to other parts of the United States and the historic and <br /> cultural tradition of Juneteenth has followed them. Today, Juneteenth is a holiday in at least 38 <br /> states. In 2007, the North Carolina enacted legislation that enables Juneteenth National Freedom <br /> Day to become a state holiday when it or a substantially similar holiday is nationally recognized. <br /> Last year Orange County and the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough gave <br /> recognition to Juneteenth as holiday. <br /> Juneteenth, while a time of celebration, it is also a time of reflection. Ira Berlin, in his book, "The <br /> Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States" finds slavery did not just happen <br /> over the course of the Civil War but was "a near century process." Emancipation was not a gift <br /> bestowed upon Black Americans by Lincoln or the Republican Party; it was something Black <br /> Americans fought for from the time they came to this country enslaved more than 400 years ago <br /> until today. In fighting for their freedom, Black Americans have shaped what it means to be a <br /> citizen in this "imperfect" country we call home. Through judicial decisions and legislation, Black <br /> Americans have redefined the words, "[We] the people." <br /> This year there will be online and in person community celebrations of Juneteenth, June 18 — 20, <br /> by the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system, the <br /> Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, the Marion Cheek Jackson Center and others. Juneteenth will be <br />