WHEREAS, Juneteenth – also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day – is an American holiday celebrated June 19th commemorating the end of slavery in the United States; and
WHEREAS, 89 years after this nation was founded, African Americans who had been enslaved in the Southwest recognized June 19th, 1865, as the day they finally learned of their freedom – a full, two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1863, all enslaved people were to be free; and
WHEREAS, Juneteenth is celebrated to honor the contribution of African Americans to our nation, past, present and future; and
WHEREAS, the Hennepin County Board first declared Juneteenth an official holiday in 2020, one year before it became a state and federally recognized holiday; therefore