Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HJR67 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	IA
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. J. RES. 67
5	5	Supporting the designation of August as ‘‘Slavery Remembrance Month’’,
6	6	to serve as a reminder of the evils of slavery, its continuing effects,
7	7	and the freedom fighters who fought to end this horrific crime against
8	8	humanity.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH3, 2025
11	11	Mr. G
12	12	REENof Texas (for himself, Mr. CLEAVER, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NORTON,
13	13	and Mr. J
14	14	ACKSONof Illinois) submitted the following joint resolution;
15	15	which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
16	16	form
17	17	JOINT RESOLUTION
18	18	Supporting the designation of August as ‘‘Slavery Remem-
19	19	brance Month’’, to serve as a reminder of the evils of
20	20	slavery, its continuing effects, and the freedom fighters
21	21	who fought to end this horrific crime against humanity.
22	22	Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Original Slavery
23	23	Remembrance Month Resolution’’;
24	24	Whereas it was during the month of August in the year
25	25	1619, that the enslavement of African people in the
26	26	American colonies destined to become the United States
27	27	of America occurred;
28	28	Whereas the House of Representatives and the Senate recog-
29	29	nize August as ‘‘Slavery Remembrance Month’’ and com-
30	30	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
31	31	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
32	32	•HJ 67 IH
33	33	memorate the lives of all enslaved people while also con-
34	34	demning the perpetration and perpetuation of slavery in
35	35	the United States of America and across the world;
36	36	Whereas the following Members of Congress are post-
37	37	humously recognized, individuals who served during and
38	38	after the Reconstruction Era, as honorary cosponsors of
39	39	this resolution: the Honorable Joseph Hayne Rainey
40	40	(SC–01), Member of Congress from 1870 to 1879; Jef-
41	41	ferson Franklin Long (GA–04), Member of Congress
42	42	from January 1871 to March 1871; Robert Carlos De
43	43	Large (SC–02), Member of Congress from 1871 to 1873;
44	44	Robert Brown Elliott (SC–3), Member of Congress from
45	45	1871 to 1874; Benjamin Sterling Turner (AL–01), Mem-
46	46	ber of Congress from 1871 to 1873; Josiah Thomas
47	47	Walls (FL-At Large), Member of Congress from 1871 to
48	48	1876; Alonzo Jacob Ransier (SC–02), Member of Con-
49	49	gress from 1873 to 1875; Richard Harvey Cain (SC-At
50	50	Large), Member of Congress from 1873 to 1875 and
51	51	1877 to 1879; John Roy Lynch (MS–06), Member of
52	52	Congress from 1873 to 1877 and 1882 to 1883; James
53	53	Thomas Rapier (AL–02), Member of Congress from
54	54	1873 to 1875; Jeremiah Haralson (AL–01), Member of
55	55	Congress from 1875 to 1877; John Adams Hyman (NC–
56	56	02), Member of Congress from 1875 to 1877; Robert
57	57	Smalls (SC–07), Member of Congress from 1875 to 1879
58	58	and 1882 to 1883 and 1884 to 1887; James Edward
59	59	O’Hara (NC–02), Member of Congress from 1883 to
60	60	1887; Henry Plummer Cheatham (NC–02), Member of
61	61	Congress from 1889 to 1893; John Mercer Langston
62	62	(VA–04), Member of Congress from 1890 to 1891;
63	63	Thomas Ezekiel Miller, Member of Congress from 1890
64	64	to 1891; George Washington Murray (SC–01), Member
65	65	of Congress from 1893 to 1895 and 1896 to 1897; and
66	66	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
67	67	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
68	68	•HJ 67 IH
69	69	George Henry White (NC–02), Member of Congress from
70	70	1897 to 1901;
71	71	Whereas there are seminal moments in the annals of time
72	72	that affect the rest of time;
73	73	Whereas, during the month of August in the year 1619, a
74	74	sinful seminal moment in time occurred that invidiously
75	75	sculpts and shamefully yet haunts the United States of
76	76	America;
77	77	Whereas August 20, 1619, became a seminal moment in time
78	78	when the first 20 enslaved Africans were brought against
79	79	their will to what was then Point Comfort, now Fort
80	80	Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia, and forced into chattel
81	81	slavery;
82	82	Whereas all, including Africans, who captured, enslaved, and
83	83	sold captives to transatlantic slave traders are condemned
84	84	for their perpetration and perpetuation of the evils of en-
85	85	slavement;
86	86	Whereas, over the period of the Atlantic slave trade, from ap-
87	87	proximately 1526 to 1867, millions of humans were ab-
88	88	ducted and shipped from Africa, and approximately
89	89	10,700,000 arrived in the Americas as personal property;
90	90	Whereas the majority of enslaved Africans brought to British
91	91	North America arrived between 1720 and 1780;
92	92	Whereas about 6 percent of African captives were sent di-
93	93	rectly to British North America;
94	94	Whereas, by 1825, in what has been called the New World,
95	95	the United States included about 25 percent people of
96	96	African descent;
97	97	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
98	98	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
99	99	•HJ 67 IH
100	100	Whereas the deadly, wicked Middle Passage from West Africa
101	101	to the West Indies was dangerous and horrific for
102	102	enslaved people;
103	103	Whereas mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers, aunts,
104	104	uncles, cousins, as well as people from all walks of life,
105	105	including artisans, traditional healers, spiritual leaders,
106	106	agriculturists, artists, chefs, blacksmiths, merchants, and
107	107	educators, survived the wicked Middle Passage only to
108	108	suffer the evils of slavery in the Americas;
109	109	Whereas, according to some historians, about 12 percent of
110	110	the enslaved people who embarked did not survive the
111	111	voyage;
112	112	Whereas sharks have been said to have followed the slave
113	113	ships to feed on bodies of slaves thrown overboard;
114	114	Whereas, although the enslaved sexes were separated, men,
115	115	women, and children were often kept naked, packed close
116	116	together, and the men were chained for long periods;
117	117	Whereas enslaved people suffered a variety of miserable and
118	118	often fatal maladies as a result of being subjected to in-
119	119	humane living and working conditions;
120	120	Whereas infant and child mortality rates were twice as high
121	121	among enslaved children as among Southern White chil-
122	122	dren;
123	123	Whereas enslaved people often worked from before sunup to
124	124	after sundown, 6 to 7 days a week, often without suffi-
125	125	cient food;
126	126	Whereas enslaved Black families lived with the perpetual,
127	127	dreadful fear of separation caused by the depravity of 1
128	128	or more family members being sold;
129	129	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
130	130	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
131	131	•HJ 67 IH
132	132	Whereas it is estimated that approximately one-third of
133	133	enslaved children in the upper Southern States of Mary-
134	134	land and Virginia experienced family separation through
135	135	the sale of parents, including the sale of mothers or fa-
136	136	thers away from children;
137	137	Whereas many of the enslaved, liberated enslaved, freed, and
138	138	abolitionists have not received their righteous status in
139	139	history as freedom fighters;
140	140	Whereas Prince Hall, a Black freedman, lived in colonial
141	141	Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1735 to 1807;
142	142	Whereas Prince Hall was an ardent pioneer abolitionist,
143	143	human rights activist, and freedom fighter who preceded
144	144	Sojourner Truth, John Brown, Nat Turner, and Harriet
145	145	Tubman during the American Revolutionary period;
146	146	Whereas, in 1775, after being denied by an all-White Masonic
147	147	lodge, freedom fighter Prince Hall and 14 other free
148	148	Black freedom fighters formed their own lodge;
149	149	Whereas freedom fighter Prince Hall was elected as the lead-
150	150	er, or ‘‘Worshipful Master’’, within the newly formed Af-
151	151	rican Lodge #1, later renamed African Lodge No. 459;
152	152	Whereas because of this action the freedom fighter Prince
153	153	Hall is also renowned as the ‘‘Father of Black Free-
154	154	masonry’’;
155	155	Whereas Prince Hall Freemasonry is the oldest human rights
156	156	fraternity in the United States of America, predating the
157	157	Nation’s founding;
158	158	Whereas Prince Hall Masons advocated for racial uplift, edu-
159	159	cation, and improving the condition of Black people in
160	160	America;
161	161	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
162	162	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
163	163	•HJ 67 IH
164	164	Whereas the freedom fighter Nat Turner was born into slav-
165	165	ery in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1800;
166	166	Whereas Southampton County was home to many planta-
167	167	tions, and enslaved people outnumbered free Whites;
168	168	Whereas freedom fighter Turner learned to read and write at
169	169	a young age, becoming deeply religious;
170	170	Whereas freedom fighter Turner was sold to several different
171	171	masters over the course of his life, the last time in 1830;
172	172	Whereas freedom fighter Turner preached to fellow enslaved
173	173	people, developing a loyal following;
174	174	Whereas freedom fighter Turner began planning a revolt with
175	175	a few trusted fellow enslaved men from neighboring plan-
176	176	tations;
177	177	Whereas freedom fighter Turner led a liberation rebellion be-
178	178	ginning in August 1831, quickly growing from a small
179	179	handful of enslaved people to more than 70 enslaved and
180	180	free Blacks;
181	181	Whereas the liberators went from house to house in South-
182	182	ampton County, freeing enslaved people;
183	183	Whereas the liberators were ultimately defeated by a State
184	184	militia that had over twice their manpower, with 3 artil-
185	185	lery companies reinforcing it;
186	186	Whereas freedom fighter Turner was captured 6 weeks after
187	187	the liberation rebellion was put down, whereupon he was
188	188	promptly convicted and sentenced to death;
189	189	Whereas, in retaliation for the liberation uprising, Virginia
190	190	officially executed 56 Black people, with at least 100
191	191	more killed by militias through extrajudicial violence;
192	192	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
193	193	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
194	194	•HJ 67 IH
195	195	Whereas the liberation rebellion caused widespread panic
196	196	among slaveholders throughout the South, resulting in
197	197	widespread violence against defenseless enslaved people;
198	198	Whereas, in the wake of the liberation rebellion, the Virginia
199	199	General Assembly passed legislation making it illegal to
200	200	teach enslaved or free Blacks to read and write;
201	201	Whereas the Underground Railroad was a liberation network
202	202	of freedom fighters who helped around 100,000 enslaved
203	203	people escape to freedom in the North;
204	204	Whereas the liberation Underground Railroad began when a
205	205	freedom fighter ‘‘conductor’’ often posing as an enslaved
206	206	person would enter a plantation and attempt to guide
207	207	runaways;
208	208	Whereas liberated escapees would travel 10 to 20 miles each
209	209	night between safe houses or ‘‘stations’’ to avoid detec-
210	210	tion, waiting in safe houses for the next freedom fighter
211	211	along the line to be alerted to their presence;
212	212	Whereas freedom fighters supporting escapees at each station
213	213	(many of whom were White), knew only of local efforts
214	214	and not the entire liberation operation;
215	215	Whereas Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross, lived as an
216	216	enslaved person through her young life where she en-
217	217	dured regular whippings and suffered a traumatic head
218	218	injury at the hands of an overseer enslaver, which caused
219	219	narcoleptic episodes and migraines throughout her life;
220	220	Whereas freedom fighter/liberator Tubman escaped from slav-
221	221	ery along the liberation Underground Railroad, the net-
222	222	work of abolitionist freedom fighters who guided the lib-
223	223	erated to the North traveling primarily at night to avoid
224	224	bounty hunter enslavers;
225	225	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
226	226	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
227	227	•HJ 67 IH
228	228	Whereas freedom fighter Tubman returned to the South no
229	229	less than 13 times to liberate 70 enslaved people, includ-
230	230	ing much of her family, for which she would be given the
231	231	name ‘‘Moses’’;
232	232	Whereas freedom fighter Tubman deftly led those she liber-
233	233	ated North during the fall and winter, when would-be en-
234	234	slaver captors would stay inside to avoid the cold;
235	235	Whereas, in freedom fighter Tubman’s own words, ‘‘I never
236	236	ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger’’;
237	237	Whereas, during the Civil War, freedom fighter Tubman
238	238	served as a nurse, scout, and spy in the Union army, be-
239	239	coming the first woman to plan and lead a military oper-
240	240	ation in the United States, liberating 700 enslaved people
241	241	in the slave State South Carolina;
242	242	Whereas, later in life, freedom fighter Tubman continued
243	243	working to improve the lives of oppressed people, raising
244	244	funds for and building schools and a hospital in the name
245	245	of formerly enslaved people while participating in the
246	246	women’s suffrage movement;
247	247	Whereas freedom fighter John Brown, a White abolitionist
248	248	who ran an important stop on the liberation Under-
249	249	ground Railroad, dedicated his life to ending slavery;
250	250	Whereas freedom fighter John Brown lead a militia in guer-
251	251	rilla attacks on proslavery towns in Kansas, losing one of
252	252	his sons in the liberation struggle;
253	253	Whereas Brown, with the help of freedom fighter Harriet
254	254	Tubman, planned and organized a liberation invasion of
255	255	the South to liberate all slaves;
256	256	Whereas Brown began his liberation invasion at Harpers
257	257	Ferry, West Virginia, but was surrounded and captured
258	258	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
259	259	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
260	260	•HJ 67 IH
261	261	by Federal troops led by enslaver Robert E. Lee, losing
262	262	2 more sons in the fighting;
263	263	Whereas the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed
264	264	by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on De-
265	265	cember 6, 1865, and provides that ‘‘Neither slavery nor
266	266	involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
267	267	whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
268	268	exist within the United States, or any place subject to
269	269	their jurisdiction.’’;
270	270	Whereas, beginning in the 20th century, African Americans
271	271	began to relocate from Southern farms to Southern cities,
272	272	from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West, in
273	273	a movement known as the ‘‘Great Migration’’;
274	274	Whereas the relocation of formerly enslaved people and their
275	275	descendants also included unfavorable, and at times un-
276	276	just, interactions with law enforcement that often re-
277	277	sulted in imprisonment and convict leasing;
278	278	Whereas convict leasing, slavery by another name, was a sys-
279	279	tem that allowed prisons to lease imprisoned people to
280	280	private entities, often corporations and plantations;
281	281	Whereas the remains of 95 persons, thought to be of African
282	282	ancestry, who were subjected to the convict leasing sys-
283	283	tem in the State of Texas, were discovered in 2018 at the
284	284	construction site of the James Reese Career and Tech-
285	285	nical Center of the Fort Bend Independent School Dis-
286	286	trict in Sugar Land, Texas;
287	287	Whereas, while slavery was abolished, descendants of the
288	288	enslaved continue to live with the effects of slavery’s
289	289	progenies, including convict leasing, Black codes, Jim
290	290	Crow laws, mass lynching, lawful segregation, police bru-
291	291	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
292	292	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
293	293	•HJ 67 IH
294	294	tality, mass incarceration, and institutionalized invidious
295	295	discrimination (racism); and
296	296	Whereas, despite the horrors of slavery and against all odds,
297	297	enslaved people became thought leaders and revolution-
298	298	aries and changed the course of American history: Now,
299	299	therefore, be it
300	300	Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives1
301	301	of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
302	302	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
303	303	This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Original Slavery 4
304	304	Remembrance Month Resolution’’. 5
305	305	SEC. 2. SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE MONTH. 6
306	306	That the House of Representatives and the Senate— 7
307	307	(1) supports the annual designation of a ‘‘Slav-8
308	308	ery Remembrance Month’’ to serve as a reminder of 9
309	309	the evils of slavery, its continuing effects, and the 10
310	310	freedom fighters who fought to end this horrific 11
311	311	crime against humanity; 12
312	312	(2) condemn slavery and its evil progenies, in-13
313	313	cluding— 14
314	314	(A) convict leasing; 15
315	315	(B) Black codes; 16
316	316	(C) Jim Crow laws; 17
317	317	(D) mass lynching; 18
318	318	(E) lawful segregation; 19
319	319	(F) police brutality; 20
320	320	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
321	321	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
322	322	•HJ 67 IH
323	323	(G) mass incarceration; and 1
324	324	(H) institutionalized invidious discrimina-2
325	325	tion; 3
326	326	(3) encourage all to acknowledge the impor-4
327	327	tance of slavery remembrance; and 5
328	328	(4) authorizes and requests the President to 6
329	329	issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the 7
330	330	United States to observe such month with appro-8
331	331	priate ceremonies and activities. 9
332	332	Æ
333	333	VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HJ67.IH HJ67
334	334	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS