OH HCR23

Urges United States Congress to pass and the President to sign legislation designating June 19th as a federal holiday known as Juneteenth Independence Day.

Commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War had ended and all enslaved people were free.

Notes that news of slavery's end did not reach frontier areas, particularly Texas and southwestern states, until two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox and over two and one-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Recognizes that Juneteenth has been celebrated by African Americans for more than 150 years and is now observed in 45 states and the District of Columbia, and that Ohio law already designates June 19th as Juneteenth National Freedom Day under Section 5.2247 of the Revised Code.

Directs the Ohio House Clerk to transmit copies of the resolution to United States Senate and House leadership, the President, Ohio's congressional delegation, and Ohio news media.