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Books by
Barack
Obama
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
/
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the
American Dream
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National African
American History Month 2009
A Proclamation by
the President of the United States of America
February 2, 2009
The history of
African Americans is unique and rich, and one that has
helped to define what it means to be an American.
Arriving on ships on the shores of North America more
than 300 years ago, recognized more as possessions than
people, African Americans have come to know the freedoms
fought for in establishing the United States and gained
through the use of our founding principles of freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, the right to assembly, and
due process of law. The ideals of the Founders became
more real and more true for every citizen as African
Americans pressed us to realize our full potential as a
Nation and to uphold those ideals for all who enter into
our borders and embrace the notion that we are all
endowed with certain unalienable rights.
Since Carter G. Woodson
first sought to illuminate the African American
experience, each February we pause to reflect on the
contributions of this community to our national
identity. The history is one of struggle for the
recognition of each person's humanity as well as an
influence on the broader American culture. African
Americans designed our beautiful Capital City, gave us
the melodic rhythms of New Orleans Jazz, issued new
discoveries in science and medicine, and forced us to
examine ourselves in the pages of classic literature.
This legacy has only added luster to the brand of the
United States, which has drawn immigrants to our shores
for centuries.
This year's theme, "The Quest for Black Citizenship in
the Americas," is a chance to examine the evolution of
our country and how African Americans helped draw us
ever closer to becoming a more perfect union.
The narrative of the African American pursuit of full
citizenship with all of the rights and privileges
afforded others in this country is also the story of a
maturing young Nation. The voices and examples of the
African American people worked collectively to remove
the boulders of systemic racism and discrimination that
pervaded our laws and our public consciousness for
decades. Through the work of
Frederick Douglass
and Harriet Tubman,
Booker T.
Washington and George Washington Carver,
Martin Luther King
and Thurgood Marshall,
the African American community has steadily made
progress toward the dreams within its grasp and the
promise of our Nation. Meanwhile, the belief that those
dreams might one day be realized by all of our citizens
gave African American men and women the same sense of
duty and love of country that led them to shed blood in
every war we have ever fought, to invest hard-earned
resources in their communities with the hope of self
empowerment, and to pass the ideals of this great land
down to their children and grandchildren.
As we mark National African American History Month, we
should take note of this special moment in our Nation's
history and the actors who worked so diligently to
deliver us to this place. One such organization is the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People—the
NAACP—which
this year will witness 100 years of service to the
Nation on February 12. Because of their work, including
the contributions of those luminaries on the front lines
and great advocates behind the scenes, we as a Nation
were able to take the dramatic steps we have in recent
history.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK
OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim
February 2009 as National African American History
Month. I call upon public officials, educators,
librarians, and all the people of the United States to
observe this month with appropriate ceremonies,
activities, and programs that raise awareness and
appreciation of African American history.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
second day of February, in the year of our Lord two
thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
Barack Obama
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Black History Month 2009
We went into slavery a
piece of property; we came out American
citizens. We went into slavery pagans;
we came out Christians. We went into
slavery without a language; we came out
speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue.
We went into slavery with slave chains
clanking about our wrists; we came out
with the American ballot in our hands.
Progress, progress is the law of nature;
under God it shall be our eternal
guiding star.—Booker
Taliaferro Washington
After the Egyptian and
Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton
and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of
seventh son, born with a veil, and
gifted with second-sight in this
American world, — a world which yields
him no true self-consciousness, but only
lets him see himself through the
revelation of the other world.—W.
E. B. Du Bois
God and Nature first made
us what we are, and then out of our own
created genius we make ourselves what we
want to be. Follow always that great
law. Let the sky and God be our limit
and Eternity our measurement.—Marcus
Garvey
You know my friends,
there comes a time when people get tired
of being trampled by the iron feet of
oppression ....If we are wrong, the
Supreme Court of this nation is wrong.
If we are wrong, the Constitution of the
United States is wrong. And if we are
wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are
wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a
utopian dreamer that never came down to
Earth. If we are wrong, justice is a
lie, love has no meaning. And we are
determined here in Montgomery to work
and fight until justice runs down like
water, and righteousness like a mighty
stream.—M.
L. King
<-------artist
Chuck Siler
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posted 6 February 2009 |
