MA Emancipation Day celebration planned; Lexington group leads charge wickedlocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wickedlocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF SEN. CIDNY FRIEDMAN
On July 1, Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, and her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature voted to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of language requiring a project labor agreement from the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home bill financing the construction of the new home.
In May, Baker signed the bulk of a bill authorizing $400 million in bonds for the design and construction of a new soldiers’ home facility in Holyoke and $200 million in bonds to increase geographic equity and accessibility related to the continuum of long-term care services for veterans across the state, but struck a provision requiring the home to be built with a Project Labor Agreement, under which nonunion workers would have to affiliate with construction unions to have a chance to work on the new facility.
Wicked Local
Last summer, Lexington resident Sean Osborne walked into the office of Billerica Senator Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, with a story to tell.
It was the story of a man known as Quock Walker, born into enslavement in Massachusetts during the 18th century.
When Walker’s enslaver, James Caldwell, died in 1763, his widow remarried and took Walker with her to her new home in Barre. Caldwell had apparently promised Walker his freedom, but this was refused by his new enslaver, Nathaniel Jennison.
In 1781, Walker ran away from Jennison, to the house of Caldwell s brother. Jennison reenslaved Walker, beating him severely.
Sen Friedman leads effort to honor Mass Emancipation Day holiday wickedlocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wickedlocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
STATEHOUSE ROUNDUP: Legislature gives itself overtime on budget wickedlocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wickedlocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.