Fiscal Note
No City appropriation required.
Title
Recognizing and commemorating June 19, 2026, as Juneteenth and Freedom Day in Madison, Wisconsin
Body
WHEREAS, June 19 or Juneteenth, is Freedom Day; and,
WHEREAS, this day not only celebrates freedom but honors and punctuates the quest for the civil liberty of freedom; and,
WHEREAS, Juneteenth, at its genesis, symbolically commemorates the end of slavery in America, and the beginning of the road to freedom for Black people; and,
WHEREAS, while symbolically, America gained its independence on the Fourth of July; symbolically, all its people gained their freedom on Juneteenth; and,
WHEREAS, after the Civil War, the institution of slavery remained in effect with many choosing to ignore, resist, and defy the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the end of slavery in states that seceded from the United States; and,
WHEREAS, on June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, the final stop for these troops on their march across the Confederate South delivering the formal news; and,
WHEREAS, the troops, who were charged with enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, advised the community that they are free and that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years prior; and,
WHEREAS, approximately six months later, the 13th Amendment, which stated that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” was ratified; and,
WHEREAS, as such, Juneteenth observations and celebrations started in Texas in 1865; and,
WHEREAS, in 1989, the greater Madison community first started formally celebrating Juneteenth; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison first recognized Juneteenth as a City holiday in 2021; and,
WHEREAS, in 2021, Juneteenth became the 11th federal holiday in the United States; and,
WHEREAS, Black youth...
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