DE SCR74

Recognizes June 19, 2018 as "Juneteenth Independence Day" in Delaware, commemorating the 153rd anniversary of emancipation in the South following General Order Number Three issued by Union General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas.

Notes that General Order Number Three notified enslaved African Americans in the South of their freedom, nearly two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and over a month after the Civil War ended.

References that slavery was officially outlawed nationwide on December 18, 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment's ratification, which freed enslaved people in Kentucky and Delaware, the final two slave states.

Encourages the people of Delaware to reflect on the significant roles and contributions of African Americans throughout Delaware and U.S. history and to celebrate the day with appropriate activities and events honoring this legacy.