WHEREAS:  Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the United States. On June 19, 1865, two-and-a-half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston, Texas, to spread the news that the Civil War was over and inform the formerly enslaved of their freedom; 

WHEREAS:  The third Saturday in June shall be known as “Juneteenth Independence Day in Arkansas” to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the United States of America and to demonstrate our nation’s racial reconciliation and healing from the shameful legacy of slavery; and 

WHEREAS: On this Juneteenth Independence Day, we continue to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States and cherish the freedom that can now be enjoyed by all Americans.  

NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, Governor of the State of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim June 17, 2023, as 

“JUNETEENTH INDEPENDENCE DAY IN ARKANSAS” 

and urge the citizens of Arkansas to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance. 

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 16th day of June, in the year of our Lord 2023.