New York A 8284: Enacts the New York State Freedmen's Bureau Act; appropriation

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A08284 Summary:

BILL NOA08284 

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SAME ASNo Same As

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SPONSORLucas

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COSPNSR

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MLTSPNSR

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Enacts the "New York State Freedmen's Bureau Act"; establishes a New York state freedmen's bureau; makes an appropriation therefor.

Go to top A08284 Actions:

BILL NOA08284 

&nbsp

05/08/2025referred to governmental operations

01/07/2026referred to governmental operations

Go to topA08284 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA08284 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA08284 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 8284

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 May 8, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. LUCAS -- read once and referred to the Committee
 on Governmental Operations

 AN ACT to establish a New York State Freedmen's Bureau; and making an
 appropriation therefor

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York
 2 State Freedmen's Bureau Act".
 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature makes the following findings
 4 and declarations:
 5 (a) Approximately 450,000+ Africans were trafficked and enslaved in
 6 the United States and the colonies that became the United States from
 7 1619 to 1865, inclusive. At the peak of slavery their descendants
 8 numbered 4,000,000.
 9 (b) The institution of slavery was constitutionally and statutorily
 10 sanctioned by the United States from 1776 through 1865, inclusive.
 11 (c) The chattel slavery that flourished in the United States consti-
 12 tuted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of Africans' life, liberty,
 13 citizenship rights, and cultural heritage and denied them the fruits of
 14 their own labor.
 15 (d) A preponderance of scholarly, legal, and community evidentiary
 16 documentation, as well as popular culture markers, constitute the basis
 17 for inquiry into the ongoing effects of the institution of slavery and
 18 its legacy embodied in persistent systemic structures of discrimination
 19 on living descendants of persons enslaved in the United States, American
 20 Freedmen.
 21 (e) Contrary to what many people believe, slavery was not just a
 22 southern institution. Prior to the American Revolution, there were more
 23 enslaved Africans in New York City than in any other city except Charle-
 24 ston, South Carolina. During this period, slaves accounted for 20% of
 25 the population of New York and approximately 40% of colonial New York
 26 households owned slaves. In 1799 the New York State Legislature passed
 27 "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery". This legislation was a
 28 first step in the direction of emancipation but did not have an immedi-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD08267-03-5

 A. 8284 2

 1 ate effect on or affect all enslaved people. Rather, it provided for
 2 gradual manumission. All children born to enslaved women after July 4,
 3 1799, would be freed, but only after their most productive years: age 28
 4 for men and age 25 for women. Enslaved persons already in servitude
 5 before July 4, 1799, were reclassified as "indentured servants", but in
 6 reality, remained enslaved for the duration of their lives. In 1817, the
 7 Legislature enacted a statute that gave freedom to New York enslaved
 8 people who had been born before July 4, 1799. This statute did not
 9 become effective until July 4, 1827, however, despite these laws, there
 10 were exceptions under which certain persons could still own slaves;
 11 non-residents could enter New York with slaves for up to nine months,
 12 and part-time residents were allowed to bring their slaves into the
 13 state temporarily. The nine-month exception remained law until its
 14 repeal in 1841 when the North was redefining itself as the "free" region
 15 in advance of the Civil War.
 16 (f) Following the abolition of slavery, the United States government
 17 at the federal, state, and local levels continued to perpetuate,
 18 condone, and often profit from practices that maintained brutalization
 19 and disadvantage for descendants of persons enslaved in the United
 20 States, American Free