IV 

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’’; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HRES 1309 IH 

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, selfsustaining, 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 ‘‘disVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jun 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1309.IH HR1309

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HRES 1309 IH 

proportionate 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 expanVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jun 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1309.IH HR1309

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HRES 1309 IH 

sions 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 Blackowned 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 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HRES 1309 IH 

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 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•HRES 1309 IH 

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 settleVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jun 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1309.IH HR1309

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•HRES 1309 IH 

ments and Black frontline communities in such chronically vulnerable positions: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) affirms, that on Juneteenth 2024, 158 

3 years after the 250,000 enslaved in Galveston Bay, 

4 Texas, received the news from Union troops that 

5 they were freed, that the efforts for racial justice 

6 after 250 years of United States slavery did not end 

7 on June 19, 1865; 

8 (2) acknowledges that following Juneteenth, 

9 many African Americans faced terror and repression 

10 which suppressed their ability to create stable and 

11 resilient communities or freedmen’s settlements after 

12 the Civil War; 

13 (3) honors the rich history of emancipated Afri14 can Americans who built communities by acquiring 

15 land and housing security for freedmen’s settle16 ments; 

17 (4) supports preserving freedmen’s settlements 

18 through comprehensive documentation that utilizes 

19 oral histories and existing records as well as physical 

20 commemoration of settlement remnants; 

21 (5) encourages investing in the lasting legacies 

22 of freedmen’s settlements with designated funding 

23 for historic preservation and funding economic jusVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jun 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1309.IH HR1309

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
8 

•HRES 1309 IH 

1 tice initiatives to support the descendants and re2 maining residents of these communities; 

3 (6) recognizes the need for coordination 

4 amongst the Federal Government, State govern5 ments, agencies, and nonprofit organizations is war6 ranted to better understand the power dynamics of 

7 the historical injustices that have taken place in the 

8 freedmen’s settlements; 

9 (7) expresses a commitment to identify United 

10 States freedmen’s settlements to enshrine their his11 toric community preservation, including protecting 

12 communities from development, gentrification, and 

13 environmental hazards through strategic investment, 

14 external development regulation, community-led and 

15 driven economic development, small business cre16 ation, workforce development, and education; 

17 (8) urges the Federal Government, States, lo18 calities, nonprofit organizations, schools, and com19 munity organizations to provide ongoing support to 

20 the residents and descendants of the founders of 

21 freedmen’s settlements who hold long-standing 

22 knowledge of the history of their communities to 

23 preserve the historical foundation of this Nation; 

24 (9) recognizes that coordination among the 

25 Federal Government, State governments, agencies, 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
9 

•HRES 1309 IH 

1 and nonprofit organizations is warranted to support 

2 freedmen’s settlement communities and municipali3 ties, including, but not limited to, the Environmental 

4 Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and 

5 Urban Development, food assistance programs, his6 toric land preservation, and clean water foundations; 

7 (10) affirms that freedmen’s settlements in the 

8 United States have fair standards of living, includ9 ing sewage, roads, emergency services, climate-resil10 ient infrastructure, and an overall focus on the 

11 health, well-being, sustainability, and resilience of 

12 these communities; 

13 (11) recognizes that recognizing and providing 

14 resources for freedmen’s settlements will lead to 

15 greater equity and investment in historically dis16 advantaged communities that have faced centuries of 

17 racism, discrimination, environmental and climate 

18 injustices, and violence, as conceived since the col19 onization of the Americas and is continually built 

20 upon today; and 

21 (12) honors the legacies of freedom, ingenuity, 

22 resilience, and community care created by the com23 munities in the freedmen’s settlements and brings 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
10 

•HRES 1309 IH 

1 recognition and honor to the efforts of these for2 merly enslaved people on Juneteenth 2024. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB