For information about this year’s Abolition Commemoration, visit https://bxasalh.org/events/.
New York State ASALH Statement to the People of New York, 2024
Whereas we represent the New York State branches of the Association of the Study of African American Life and History.
In 2020, the New York State legislature voted the Abolition Commemoration bill into law, and it was signed by Governor Andrew Mark Cuomo.
At this time, we are requesting that the current Governor Kathy Hochul, respect and enact this law by:
- Listing this holiday on our State Calendar.
- Ordering all non-essential State Offices closed on the 2nd Monday of July in commemoration of the abolishment of slavery in New York State, July 4, 1827.
- Establishment of billboards on our state highways advertising our State Holiday.
- Recognize this date as a paid holiday for state workers.
- All New York State Parks should be open all day with activities across the State in recognition of this commemoration.
- There must be funding provided by each municipality for the activities that will be used to mark this occasion.
- Local politicians must make outreach to community-based organizations, churches and non-profits, throughout the state with educational support.
- New York State will provide State flags free for children and the State flag should be flown on that day.
OUR MOTTO:
Education Through Commemoration
New York State Abolition Commemoration Proclamation
Bessie M. Jackson, 2nd Edition
Whereas:
The mission of The Association for the Study of African American Life and History is explicit in the title of the organization,
And Whereas:
New York State does not deny the role it has played in permitting the existence of slavery in the state; and while the state legislators may admit that slavery was wrong, they have made no effort to compensate for the damage done to the victims of slavery; although we realize that the debt owed to the victims of slavery cannot be settled with money, neither can it be satisfied with any number of apologies. No one has the power to extend an affective apology to the victims of slavery; and nobody has the authority to accept an apology on behalf of the victims of slavery.
And Whereas:
History cannot be reversed; we must remember the facts of slavery in New York, as it is a powerful part of the history of our state, and it has an indelible impression on our lives today. Considering that history cannot be reversed, we have agreed that the least New York can do, in order to reflect the values of a civilized state, is spend one day a year in atonement for its participation in the horror, the fear, the heart break, the trauma, and other dehumanizing factors that sustained slavery in New York for more than two hundred years.
And Whereas:
The record shows that the first celebration of the first New York State Holiday was held at United Christian Baptist Church, 713 East 222nd Street, Bronx, New York, where Reverend Reginald E. Paris was pastor, on July 8, 2019.
And on July 22, 2020, the New York State Legislators passed the Abolition Commemoration Bill, making the second Monday in the month of July a public state holiday, to be celebrated annually as Abolition Commemoration Day in New York State, in memory of the Abolition Act that was passed by the state legislature on March 31, 1817, abolishing slavery in New York State, effective July 4, 1827.
Now therefore we, the members and supporters of the New York Branches of The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, do hereby proclaim the second Monday of the seventh month of every year Abolition Commemoration Day in New York State.