HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023 Massachusetts Emancipation Day aka Quock Walker Day Proclamation ,'
�
�
�
�
�
���>� ;
���, s,��,� fr
� ��.' ,� `t
;� � � ,�
� �.
� �: ((� , * * ��
� � ' �� ���� �� ��4.�����1��� �������.������1�
� > ��
� ��
> , � �.>
< .;�:�..,:� �
������' ���.���� �� SELECT BOARCI 4FFICE �� ,�
��>������`,
.-..�,.w. , y
�'���l'�I..,AI��IA���Ol`�T �� � �� � ���� ������``��� ��� �'
� ,, ,, ��
. .�
"`� �� ( �r �
_..� � � -��e� �� ,
,s �
�,,...� �"' f?' f
i,, ° �� „/
Whe�eas: this year marks the 240th A.nnlversary af the third of the Quock Walker Cases that 4
constitu.tianally ended slavery in Ma�sachusetts; and
W�Ce�eas: Quack Walk.�r entered the hi�torical recard on May 4, 1�754, when Zedekiah Stone sold Mingo,
Dinah, and 9-month-old Quock to James �aldwell of the Rutland Dis�rict for 180 pounds; and
Whe�eas: Quoc� Walker's parents were likely imported in�o Massachusetts by ship li1�e the �rst enslaved
Africans were imported into the Massachuse��s Bay Colony in 163$; and
Whe�eas. in 1641 the Massachu�etts �ay�olony became the �rs�of Britain's mainland calonies to make
slavery legal; and
Whe�eas: in 17$0, the Commonwealth of 1Vlassachusetts adopted a Constitutian which included Article 1,
tivhich reads,
"All men are born free and equal, and have ce�tain natural, essential, and unalienable�ights; among
which may be reckoned the�ight of enjoying and defending thei�lives and libe�ties,• that of acqui�ing,
passessing, and protectzng p�operty,• in fine, that of seeking and obtaining thei�safety and happiness.";
and
Whe�eacs: Reverend Janas Clark� of Lexington served as a delegate to the Constitutional �onvention; and
Whe�eas; in 1781, C�uock Walker self-emancipated and went to work an a nearby farm in Barre,
� Massachusetts; and
Whe�eas: an June 12, 1781, a jury of the Worcester County Court af Common Pleas det�r�nined that
Quock Walker was a free man and assess�d Nathaniel Jennison 50 pounds for assault and
battery; and
Whereas: in �eptember 17$l, Nathaniel Jennison lost his appeal�o the Worcester�ircuit of the Supreme
Judlcial �ourt; and
Whe�eas: in 1783, Justice William�ushing, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts �upreme Judicial�ourt,
noted in his instructions to the jury, "the idea of slavery is inc�nsistent with our own conduct and
Canstitution"; and
Whe�eas: the Quack Walker cases resulted in the abolitlon of slavery in Le�ing�on and across the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts over 70 years before President Abraham Lincoln's
Emancipatian Proclamatian; and
Whereas: Quock Walker and his siblings acquired property in Barre, Massachusetts and �njoyed o�her
liberties; and
Whereas: Quock Walker'�peers and�heir children becam� entrepren�urs and active abolitionists who
established�h� Massa�husetts �eneral Colored Association, the flrst all-Black abolitianist
organization in the Unit�d �tates, `�ta promote the welfare of the rac�by warking for the
des�ructian of slavery'�; and
Whereas: Abel and I�,.ate Barbado��vc�er� enslaved�.nd emancipated by Jahn �imonds of Le�ing�on prior to
�775; and
Whereas: James CJeorge Barbadoes, grandsan af Abel a�d Kat� Barbadaes, was a faunding m�mber of�h�
Massachusetts t�eneral Colared Assoclatian; and
Whereas: �n 2(J22, the Mas�ach�setts legislature passed a bill, signed i�.to law by Gavernor�harles D.
Baker, Jr. making J�.ly 8 Massachusetts Emancipation I�ay also known as C,�7uock Walk.�r Day in
th� +�ommonw�alth af Massachusetts.
NO W, T.H�REF'(JR.�, WE �'HE SELECT BOARD of the Town of L,exington, Massachuse�ts, do hereby
proclaim July $, 2023 as
1�7as�sach u��etts .�;��z an�ci atio�z .�►a aka uock T��alke� .Da
p y �
and urge all of the citizer�s of th� Tawn of Lexingtan ta celebra�e the tenacity and audacity af+Quock �alker,
while building upon his legacy to make Lexin�ton, and th� Commanwealth, a more just place�o exercise our
natural, essential, and unalienable �ights.
IN WITNE�� W�-IE�:E(JF, we have set our hands and caus�d the seal �f Lexingtan to be af�xed herewith an
th� 21�t of June 2023.
JOSEPH N.PATO,CHAIR ,>�; SUZANNE E.BARRY
�
#<: x�< _ ��.;
� >:
�.:.;, �' � `� � '
4.��� ''"a��`;��� ��`� � 2 �
W��Si.
I
f �
DOUGLAS M.�'LJCENTE JILL I.HAI
IVIARI�D,SANDEEN