The People’s Resolution to Honor Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes
Presented on D.C. Emancipation Day, April 16, 2007 from the Steps of the Wilson Building, the following is the text which Stand Up! For Democracy in D.C. presented to Loretta Carter Hanes, a long-time D.C. community activist. Hanes was instrumental in many grassroots efforts, which later lead to official efforts that serve many throughout the city.
Hanes initiated what is now known as D.C. Reading is Fundamental, and advocated for literacy. She led efforts to restore official celebrations for Emancipation Day and Juneteenth.
This resolution is recommended by fellow grass-roots activists who believe she deserves recognition for her efforts:
WHEREAS, Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes, now 80 years old, is a native Washingtonian, a long-time genealogical hobbyist, a passionate and learned student of District of Columbia history, a former tutor in the District of Columbia Public Schools and one of the Founders of D.C. Reading is Fundamental, promoter of literacy for the children of the District of Columbia, grass-roots organizer, activist and a descendent of enslaved persons who served President George Washington; and
WHEREAS, since 1991, Mrs. Hanes, through D.C. Reading Is Fundamental, has coordinated a Washington, D.C. Compensated Emancipation commemorative events series annually in cooperation with the U.S. National Park Service and other public and private agencies and organizations, including churches, to educate the public about the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, and to remember those 3,100 enslaved persons who resided in the nation’s capital in April 16, 1862 and who were freed by an act of Congress and signed into law to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863; and
WHEREAS, due to the ongoing efforts of Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes, the 1994 D.C. Emancipation Commemoration was held on April 16 at Washington’s Old Post Office Pavilion and was sponsored by DC RIF in cooperation with the U.S. National Park Service. The events included a Compensated Emancipation Day Proclamation by then D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly; and the ringing of Bells of the U.S. Congress housed at the Old Post Office, by the Washington Bell Ringers Society. In recognition of her outstanding service to the community, Mrs. Hanes was presented a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition by U.S. Rep. Donald Manzullo of Illinois, a congressman from Lincoln’s home state; and
WHEREAS, since 1991, Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes, has through great financial, physical health sacrifices and personal financial expense and time, supported by her husband Wesley, son Peter and daughter Cindy, grass-roots organizations, groups and individuals, continued to lobby educational and academic institutions and local and national elected officials; and
WHEREAS, on January 5, 2005 the District of Columbia Council made DC Compensated Emancipation Day the District’s first and only official paid city holiday due in large part to the organizing efforts of Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes personally gathered petition signatures while sitting in a wheelchair (due to poor health);
THEREFORE, be it resolved before the Council of the District of Columbia that Mrs. Loretta Carter Hanes be recognized and honored henceforth as the “reviver and resurrector of D.C. Compensated Emancipation Observances.
