Recognizing June 19, 2023 as Juneteenth in the City of Cambridge, and in urging all Cambridge residents to reflect upon the meaning of this important day

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On the 19th of June, people throughout the country shall be celebrating Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, the day in which slavery was formally abolished in the State of Texas, and which has come to be regarded as the final, formal date of emancipation of all remaining enslaved people throughout the United States of America at the end of the Civil War; and

On June 17, 2021, President Biden signed into law legislation declaring Juneteenth to be a federal holiday, and we celebrate this holiday each year in acknowledgment of the ending of one of the most shameful chapters in this country’s history, and in the continual hope that the United States shall forever strive to become a more perfect union, and shall forever work to move closer to its founding ideals of being a nation where all citizens are considered equal; and

In the 158 years since the end of the Civil War, the United States has unquestionably made great strides, and has also suffered numerous, at times heartbreaking setbacks, in the long march towards true civic equality for all its citizens; and

Juneteenth remains an important date for us to pause each year to reflect upon the progress we have made, and to contemplate the work that remains as we seek to create a more just country for the generations yet to come; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Council go on record recognizing June 19, 2023 as Juneteenth in the City of Cambridge, and in urging all Cambridge residents to reflect upon the meaning of this important day.