[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1309 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1309

    Continuing the promise of Juneteenth: honoring, preserving, and 
                  investing in freedmen's settlements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 18, 2024

Ms. Kamlager-Dove (for herself, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Espaillat, 
   Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. 
  Williams of Georgia, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Goldman of New York, Ms. 
  Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Blunt Rochester, and Ms. Moore of 
 Wisconsin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Continuing the promise of Juneteenth: honoring, preserving, and 
                  investing in freedmen's settlements.

Whereas, on June 18, 2021, the Biden-Harris administration proclaimed the 
        Juneteenth Day of Observance a Federal holiday and defined it as a day 
        to--

    (1) commemorate the past;

    (2) celebrate the emancipation of the formerly enslaved; and

    (3) remind us of the Nation's capacity to ``heal, hope and emerge in 
new ways'';

Whereas the Biden-Harris administration also signaled Juneteenth as a call to 
        action to ``uplift our founding ideals and collective prosperity'';
Whereas over 1,200 freedmen's settlements and Black towns were established 
        throughout the South and across the Nation before and after emancipation 
        by free and formerly enslaved African Americans to create safer, self-
        sustaining, and thriving communities away from racial violence and 
        economic discrimination;
Whereas the freedmen's settlements and towns are the embodiment of ``ground-up 
        emancipation'' and the untold story of community resilience, collective 
        economics, and community building of churches, schools, and enterprises 
        rooted in the African ethic of Ubuntu (I am because you/we are);
Whereas many of these freedmen's settlements and towns were destroyed by 
        Southern domestic terrorists, or otherwise became impoverished by 
        centuries of public and private divestment, which includes uncompensated 
        enslaved labor, failed Reconstruction, and the unmet Freedmen's Bureau's 
        postemancipation promises to transition people who were formerly 
        enslaved into the United States economy, Jim Crow laws, economic and 
        housing discrimination through redlining, public housing, and 
        transportation policies, and environmental racism;
Whereas, in acknowledgment of extreme economic and racial disparities, the 
        Environmental Protection Agency launched the Environmental and Climate 
        Justice Program in 2022 to provide financial and technical assistance to 
        implement environmental and climate justice activities to benefit 
        ``underserved and overburdened'' communities across the Nation, which 
        have continued ``disproportionate environmental health burdens, 
        population vulnerability, and limits to effective participation in 
        decisions with environmental consequences'';
Whereas the White House further recognized the need for greater investment in 
        disadvantaged communities through the Justice40 Initiative in 2022, 
        where the Federal Government set a goal to direct 40 percent of overall 
        benefits of Federal investments to communities that lack clean water, 
        sewer infrastructure, clean energy, clean transit, affordable and 
        sustainable housing, training and workforce development, and remediation 
        and mitigation of legacy pollution;
Whereas, approximately 45 percent of the residents of the unincorporated 
        community of Sand Branch, Texas, established as a freedmen's settlement 
        in 1878, live below the poverty line, and the community is surrounded by 
        environmentally polluting facilities such as cement plants and is also a 
        dumping ground for tires and other trash, has no local school, no 
        proximity to medical facilities, and has not had access to clean running 
        water for over 30 years due to contamination of the local well system, 
        and there is no access to municipal water or sewer system, and although 
        hydropanels have recently been installed to provide drinking water, 
        residents continue to rely on limited donations of bottled water to meet 
        the majority of their water needs;
Whereas the unincorporated community of Africatown, Alabama, established in the 
        1860s as a freedmen's settlement by West Africans brought to the United 
        States illegally aboard the ship Clotilda, consists of 1,215 people, of 
        which 34 percent live below the poverty line, and are surrounded by 
        industry-zoned land and potential expansions of chemical plants, 
        resulting in continued improper waste management, causing pollution, 
        toxic exposure, contamination, and cancer in residents;
Whereas the unincorporated community of Mossville, Louisiana, established in 
        1790, has been encircled by over a dozen petrochemical plants, 
        refineries, and other industrial facilities that pollute the air and 
        water, causing elevated rates of cancer and other diseases among 
        residents as multinational corporations continue to expand in the area, 
        displacing many Mossville families and threatening the community's long-
        term survival;
Whereas the community of Edmondson, Arkansas, incorporated in 1911, emerged as a 
        thriving hub of Black-owned businesses, churches, and cotton farming, 
        with African Americans constituting its civic leadership from the 
        outset, and despite the injustice faced in the 1930s by systematic White 
        racism to steal hundreds of town lots from the original Black owners and 
        the county sheriff making false declarations of the delinquent property 
        tax status of Black families, the Edmondson community persisted and 
        persevered, rebuilding churches, homes, and a sense of cohesion after 
        floods, fires, and storms;
Whereas the community of Allensworth, California, established in 1908 and the 
        first town in California to be founded, funded, and governed by African 
        Americans, was once a promising burgeoning town off a main railroad 
        line, but faced racist disinvestment through the relocation of their 
        train stop, seizure of water resources and subsequent drought and 
        pollution of the aquifer, leaving the town underresourced and sparsely 
        populated, and since then, the residents have organized to revitalize 
        the town through agriculture and historic preservation, and are laying 
        the groundwork for a full community revitalization using $40,000,000 of 
        State funding allocated to the town in 2022;
Whereas Oberlin Village, North Carolina, established in 1866, was once a 
        prosperous free Black community with successful small businesses, 
        schools, and university churches, and faced discrimination and 
        displacement through the mid-20th century and is now undergoing vigorous 
        efforts by the community-led Friends of Oberlin Village to restore 
        historic buildings, preserve oral histories, and ensure that the 
        community can continue to thrive in the future;
Whereas Independence Heights, Texas, was first established in 1908 and became 
        the first Black city in Texas in 1915, and the community built a 
        municipal infrastructure and an ecosystem of 40 Black-owned small 
        businesses, and now faces threats from natural disasters and 
        gentrification that are displacing residents, including those who own 
        property passed down through generations, leading the community to 
        organize vehicles such as the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council 
        to ensure community leadership in development projects and preserve its 
        cultural and historic identity;
Whereas communities such as Edmonson, Allensworth, Oberlin Village, and 
        Independence Heights should not be exceptional cases of communities 
        overcoming their circumstances, but rather models for the possibility of 
        reparation, restoration, protection, and thriving of freedmen's 
        settlement communities;
Whereas it is difficult to fully quantify and understand the history and current 
        status of all the freedmen's settlements in the United States due to 
        lack of research and investment in analyzing, preserving, and supporting 
        these historic settlements, towns, and communities, with a large part of 
        this history held by the descendants of the founders and residents;
Whereas these freedmen's settlements can serve as pillars of inspiration and 
        modeling of land regeneration, ecobased economies organized around 
        communal and collective land, and economic policies for divested 
        communities;
Whereas a handful of former freedmen's settlements have received State or local 
        designation for their historic status, offering them an opportunity for 
        preservation and public acknowledgment, such as the Freedmen's Town 
        Historic District in Houston, Texas;
Whereas there is an ongoing call, gaining much traction today, to preserve and 
        document the history of freedmen's settlements, leading to projects such 
        as the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, the Mapping Blackness Project, as 
        well as the Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal created by the National 
        Museum of African American History and Culture, among others;
Whereas, with a greater focus and leveraging of the power of various Federal 
        agencies' support, protection, and investment, transformation becomes 
        possible for all these historic communities across the United States; 
        and
Whereas the current moment presents an opportunity for the Federal Government to 
        expand on the promises made when Juneteenth was designated a Federal 
        holiday by not only fulfilling the unmet promises and possibilities of 
        the Freedmen's Bureau and the larger Reconstruction movement, but also 
        to helping right the historic and present wrongs that have placed the 
        freedmen's settlements and Black frontline communities in such 
        chronically vulnerable positions: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) affirms, that on Juneteenth 2024, 158 years after the 
        250,000 enslaved in Galveston Bay, Texas, received the news 
        from Union troops that they were freed, that the efforts for 
        racial justice after 250 years of United States slavery did not 
        end on June 19, 1865;
            (2) acknowledges that following Juneteenth, many African 
        Americans faced terror and repression which suppressed their 
        ability to create stable and resilient communities or 
        freedmen's settlements after the Civil War;
            (3) honors the rich history of emancipated African 
        Americans who built communities by acquiring land and housing 
        security for freedmen's settlements;
            (4) supports preserving freedmen's settlements through 
        comprehensive documentation that utilizes oral histories and 
        existing records as well as physical commemoration of 
        settlement remnants;
            (5) encourages investing in the lasting legacies of 
        freedmen's settlements with designated funding for historic 
        preservation and funding economic justice initiatives to 
        support the descendants and remaining residents of these 
        communities;
            (6) recognizes the need for coordination amongst the 
        Federal Government, State governments, agencies, and nonprofit 
        organizations is warranted to better understand the power 
        dynamics of the historical injustices that have taken place in 
        the freedmen's settlements;
            (7) expresses a commitment to identify United States 
        freedmen's settlements to enshrine their historic community 
        preservation, including protecting communities from 
        development, gentrification, and environmental hazards through 
        strategic investment, external development regulation, 
        community-led and driven economic development, small business 
        creation, workforce development, and education;
            (8) urges the Federal Government, States, localities, 
        nonprofit organizations, schools, and community organizations 
        to provide ongoing support to the residents and descendants of 
        the founders of freedmen's settlements who hold long-standing 
        knowledge of the history of their communities to preserve the 
        historical foundation of this Nation;
            (9) recognizes that coordination among the Federal 
        Government, State governments, agencies, and nonprofit 
        organizations is warranted to support freedmen's settlement 
        communities and municipalities, including, but not limited to, 
        the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing 
        and Urban Development, food assistance programs, historic land 
        preservation, and clean water foundations;
            (10) affirms that freedmen's settlements in the United 
        States have fair standards of living, including sewage, roads, 
        emergency services, climate-resilient infrastructure, and an 
        overall focus on the health, well-being, sustainability, and 
        resilience of these communities;
            (11) recognizes that recognizing and providing resources 
        for freedmen's settlements will lead to greater equity and 
        investment in historically disadvantaged communities that have 
        faced centuries of racism, discrimination, environmental and 
        climate injustices, and violence, as conceived since the 
        colonization of the Americas and is continually built upon 
        today; and
            (12) honors the legacies of freedom, ingenuity, resilience, 
        and community care created by the communities in the freedmen's 
        settlements and brings recognition and honor to the efforts of 
        these formerly enslaved people on Juneteenth 2024.
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