National African American History Month, 2000

Proclamation 7270 of January 31, 2000

National African American History Month, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Each year during National African American History
Month, as we explore the history and culture of African
Americans, we discover anew a treasure of stories about
the triumph of the human spirit, inspiring accounts of
everyday people rising above the indignities imposed by
prejudice. These stories are not only an important part
of African American history, but an essential part of
American history.

We are awakened to such stories through the power,
beauty, and unflinching witness of poets and writers
like Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paul Laurence
Dunbar, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Toni
Morrison, and Alice Walker. We find them in the lives
and voices of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth,
Booker T. Washington, and others who, rising above
slavery, brutality, and bigotry, became great American
champions of liberty, equality, and dignity. We see
them written in the achievements of civil rights
leaders like Daisy Bates, James Farmer, John Lewis,
Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Mary Church
Terrell, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young.

Forty years ago this month, a new chapter in African
American history was written. On February 1, 1960, four
courageous young men--freshmen at North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro--sat
down at a segregated lunch counter in a local store and
politely refused to leave until they were served. Their
nonviolent action challenged a barrier that,
symbolically and practically, had separated black and
white Americans for decades and denied equal treatment
to African American citizens. The extraordinary bravery
and determination of Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain,
Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond galvanized young men
and women of conscience across America, setting in
motion a series of student sit-ins in more than 50
cities and 9 States. Subjecting themselves to verbal
abuse, physical violence, and unjust arrest, thousands
of black and white students peacefully demonstrated to
end segregation in restaurants, theaters, concert
halls, and public transportation and called for
equality in housing, health care, and education. Their
story of conscience and conviction and their ultimate
triumph continue to inspire us today.

The theme of this year's African American History Month
is ``Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy
and the Challenges of the 21st Century.'' It is a
reminder that the new century on which we have just
embarked offers us a unique opportunity to write our
own chapter in the history of African Americans and of
our Nation. We can use this time of extraordinary
prosperity and peace to widen the circle of opportunity
in America, to recognize that our society's rich
diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and to
unite around the fundamental values that we all share
as Americans. We can teach our children that America's
story has been written by men and women of every race
and creed and ethnic background. And we can ensure that
our laws, our actions, and our words honor the rights
and dignity of every human being.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim February 2000 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
thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
two thousand, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.