City Council recognizes Juneteenth with proclamation, flag raising

posted on 6/20/2024

The Dover City Council recognized Juneteenth, the annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, with an official proclamation and flag raising.

Mayor Robert Carrier read the proclamation at the June 12 City Council meeting, highlighting Dover's historic role in the anti-slavery movement dating back to the 1830s. 

"Even though it is joyously celebrated, Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the grief and anguish our nation has experienced over the lives lost and the dreams destroyed by acts of racially motivated violence, abuses of power, and injustice," the mayor said, reading from the proclamation.

On Tuesday, June 18, Carrier was joined by members of the City Council, elected officials, and community members to raise the Juneteenth flag over City Hall, where it flew until the end of the day on June 19.

The proclamation noted that while celebrated, Juneteenth is also "a solemn reminder that words alone cannot deliver on the promises of freedom, individual rights, and equal justice for all." It stated that although progress has been made since the era of state-sanctioned slavery and segregation, "our work remains unfinished."

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought news of the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War to Galveston, Texas, one of the most remote slave-owning states at the time, freeing the last remaining enslaved African Americans over two years after the proclamation took effect.

The day is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of slavery's end in the United States. New Hampshire has not codified Juneteenth as a state holiday but observes the day with a proclamation from the governor, per RSA 4:13-aa, adopted in 2019.

The complete proclamation can be viewed on the city's website here.