[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H581-H582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Adams) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to celebrate the first day of 
Black History Month and to honor the

[[Page H582]]

Greensboro Four for exemplifying this year's Black History Month theme: 
Black Resistance.
  Black history is American history, but it is important to remember 
that this isn't ancient history. The Greensboro Four, also known as the 
A&T Four, sparked the sit-in movement in 1960, just 63 years ago today.
  Think about that. Only six decades ago, during my lifetime, Black 
Americans in the South were forced to use different water fountains, 
eat at separate lunch counters, go to different bathrooms, and, most of 
all, suffer the indignity of second-class citizenship.
  That is why on February 1, 1960, four courageous Black students from 
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, my alma mater, Ezell 
Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil, sat 
down at a Whites-only lunch counter and asked to be served. In doing 
so, the Greensboro Four changed the United States forever.
  The sit-in movement spread to cities across the South where Black 
resistance against segregation, discrimination, and Jim Crow eventually 
led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed segregation in 
public accommodations.
  It is with great pride today that I recognize the A&T Four and every 
American who joined the sit-in movement to protest the racism of the 
Jim Crow South and eventually changed public policy.
  These protests against injustice led to civil rights and voting 
rights for Black Americans, as well as equal protection under the law.
  Whether it was at that Woolworth's counter or on a bus in Montgomery 
or in a jail cell in Birmingham or a bridge in Selma, Alabama, or on 
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or a Baptist Church in Atlanta or in 
a St. Louis, Missouri, courthouse before the Civil War or at a slave 
rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in the antebellum South, 
Black resistance has nourished and slowly but surely worked to perfect 
American democracy.
  We, as a Nation, have a responsibility to learn from our past and 
work diligently to carry on the legacy of these four men and all of our 
ancestors in the movement by ensuring equal rights for all of the 
people and protecting the civil rights we all fought so hard to win.
  Black history is more important than ever. If it wasn't so important, 
they wouldn't try to stop us from teaching it. Last month, Florida 
schools announced they would not teach an advanced placement course in 
African-American history. The State of Florida's letter to the college 
board claimed the course ``lacks educational value.'' I disagree.
  We can't afford to remove critical thinking from our curriculum. Our 
students won't understand American history without understanding 
African-American history.
  Those who don't understand history, Mr. Speaker, are doomed to repeat 
it. That is why this February, all Americans must recommit to teaching 
Black history in our homes, our schools, our churches, on TV, on 
Twitter, and, yes, even in the Halls of Congress.
  We must be unified and unafraid to say ``Black'' and to teach our 
history and heritage. Because if we don't remember the Greensboro Four, 
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Hattie 
McDaniel, Frederick Douglass, Harriet and Dred Scott, Nat Turner, 
Harriet Tubman, and countless others, someday, somewhere, someone will 
have to endure what they endured to win, yet again, the rights and the 
respect they fought for. That is why for me, every month, Mr. Speaker, 
is Black History Month.

                          ____________________