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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN HONOR OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
WHEREAS, Africans were first brought to the United States early as the 17th century; and,
WHEREAS, their inhumane and involuntarily journey to America through capture resulting in enslavement, mistreatment, separation from families, humiliation, and poor living conditions; and,
WHEREAS, in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed emphasizing ''all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,'' yet Africans faced the injustices of lynch mobs, segregation, the denial of the basic and fundamental rights of citizenship including the right to vote; and,
WHEREAS, many African Americans paved the way for future generations to succeed by the example of how they lived, toiled, and died in obscurity; and,
WHEREAS, in the years after Reconstruction, campaigning for the importance of Black history and doing the scholarly work of creating the canon was a cornerstone of civil rights in the face of injustices, African Americans fought courageously for the rights and freedom of African Americans and others; and,
WHEREAS, September of 1915, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting the achievements of Black Americans and other peoples of African descent, and;
WHEREAS, Woodson, an American historian, journalist, and author was in the forefront of highlighting the achievements of Blacks through the efforts of ASNLH earning him the esteemed title of the "Father of Black History," and;
WHEREAS, ASNLH sponsored national Negro History Week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize ...
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