California 175 - 1850 Compromise: Our ongoing journey towards a paid Juneteenth Holiday

George Washington, as a founding father and first US President of the United States of America, utilized free labor of captured and enslaved Pan African / Indigenous human beings on his vast Mt. Vernon Estates.

Most early US Presidents followed suit utilizing enslaved labor to expand economic opportunity via genocide against Native populations and expanding Chattel Slavery beyond the initial 13 Colonies whom fought for “freedom” for some.

President George Washington signed just two pieces of slavery related legislation: the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law, which guaranteed the right of slaveholders to recover escaped slaves across state lines, and the 1794 Slave Trade Act, which restricted U.S. participation in the trafficking of human cargo.

From 1776 to 1850 the delicate balance of 15 “slave” states and 15 “free” states was forever upset with California Admission Day - part of the 1850 Compromise over slavery in expanded new land acquired from the US / Mexican War.

Chapter XVI - lays upon the table the ongoing challenge America has not addressed.

THE CONDITION, ELEVATION, EMIGRATION, AND DESTINY OF THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES

BY

MARTIN ROBISON DELANY

PUBLISHED 1852.

June 2021 the US Congress passed Juneteenth legislation establishing a Title 5 US Holiday for Juneteenth. June 2025 the State of Alabama joined a majority of States authorizing a paid Juneteenth Holiday aligned with Federal law.

October 2025, plans to assemble and tour throughout Alabama while remembering the past, celebrating today’s progress, and preparing for future opportunities honoring the tradition of honoring esteemed ancestors.

California 175 - 1850 Compromise offers a profound opportunity and methodology in 2025 towards a needed compromise today.

Birmingham, Alabama; Magic City in the Black Belt of the Deep South, 2025 National Juneteenth Observance Foundation Annual Meeting inviting representatives from all 50 States, 6 Territories and beyond… to think deeply and utilize this precious time to help form a more perfect Union.