Black History Month (2006)

Black History Month

WHEREAS, Virginians of all backgrounds and experiences contribute to our Commonwealth’s rich cultural diversity, storied history and promising future, and it is important for Virginians to recognize the positive contributions to our society made by people of all heritages and races; and

WHEREAS, African Americans are prominent in Virginia and American history, and famous historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a native Virginian and the son of former slaves, brought this fact to the world’s attention by founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, publishing several scholarly works and establishing Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month; and

WHEREAS, our nation’s first newspaper owned and operated by African Americans, The Richmond Planet, gave a voice to the daily struggles for freedom and equality of African Americans in Richmond and throughout our Commonwealth and nation; and

WHEREAS, countless African Americans have figured prominently in their respective fields throughout the past century, including such distinguished Virginians as Spotswood W. Robinson, III, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; Mr. Oliver Hill, Esquire, whose 1954 argument in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas mandated the integration of America’s public schools; Mrs. Maggie Walker, a prominent civic leader and founder and President of the St. Luke Penny Bank, the first American bank established and operated by a woman of any race; the Honorable L. Douglas Wilder, Virginia’s sixty-sixth Governor and the first African American from any state to win a gubernatorial election; the late Arthur Ashe, winner of the U.S. Open and Wimbledon tennis championships; and Judge Roger Gregory, the first African American appointed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals; and

WHEREAS, many other African Americans have made important contributions to our society, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., our nation’s greatest civil rights activist; Ida B. Wells, the renowned writer, teacher, women’s suffragist and anti-lynching crusader; Jackie Robinson and Earl Lloyd, the first African Americans to integrate Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, respectively; Thurgood Marshall, the first African American United States Supreme Court Justice; and Rosa Parks, whose famous decision to remain in her seat symbolized the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; and

WHEREAS, it is important to learn from the many lessons of history’s failures, successes, disappointments and triumphs as we continue to pursue our Founding Fathers’ visions of liberty, justice and equality for all;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Timothy M. Kaine, do hereby recognize February 2006 as BLACK HISTORY MONTH in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.