    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
    [Senate]
    [Page S1401]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

             SENATE RESOLUTION 99--CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

      Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr. Warnock,
    Mr. Cramer, Mr. Coons, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs.
    Shaheen, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Tillis, Ms. Duckworth,
    Mrs. Britt, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Moran,
    Mr. Kaine, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Lujan, Mr. King, Ms. Hassan, Ms.
    Cortez Masto, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Klobuchar,
    Mr. Schatz, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Ossoff, Mrs.
    Gillibrand, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Warner, Mrs.
    Murray, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Peters, and Ms. Alsobrooks)
    submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                                   S. Res. 99

           Whereas, in 1776, people envisioned the United States as a
         new nation dedicated to the proposition stated in the
         Declaration of Independence that ``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'';
           Whereas Africans were first brought involuntarily to the
         shores of the United States as early as the 17th century;
           Whereas African Americans suffered enslavement and
         subsequently faced the injustices of lynch mobs, segregation,
         and denial of the basic and fundamental rights of
         citizenship;
           Whereas, in 2025, the vestiges of those injustices and
         inequalities remain evident in the society of the United
         States;
           Whereas, in the face of injustices, people of good will and
         of all races in the United States have distinguished
         themselves with a commitment to the noble ideals on which the
         United States was founded and have fought courageously for
         the rights and freedom of African Americans and others;
           Whereas African Americans, such as Lieutenant Colonel Allen
         Allensworth, Maya Angelou, Arthur Ashe, Jr., James Baldwin,
         James Beckwourth, Clara Brown, Blanche Bruce, Ralph Bunche,
         Shirley Chisholm, Holt Collier, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong,
         Larry Doby, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph
         Ellison, Medgar Evers, Aretha Franklin, Alex Haley, Dorothy
         Height, Jon Hendricks, Olivia Hooker, Lena Horne, Charles
         Hamilton Houston, Mahalia Jackson, Stephanie Tubbs Jones,
         B.B. King, Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King,
         Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Rosa Parks, Walter
         Payton, Bill Pickett, Homer Plessy, Bass Reeves, Hiram
         Revels, Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson, Jackie Robinson,
         Aaron Shirley, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T.
         Washington, the Greensboro Four, the Tuskegee Airmen, Prince
         Rogers Nelson, Recy Taylor, Fred Shuttlesworth, Duke
         Ellington, Langston Hughes, Muhammad Ali, Elijah Cummings,
         Ella Fitzgerald, Mamie Till, Toni Morrison, Gwen Ifill,
         Diahann Carroll, Chadwick Boseman, John Lewis, Katherine
         Johnson, Rev. C.T. Vivian, Hank Aaron, Edith Savage-Jennings,
         Septima Clark, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Cicely Tyson, John Hope
         Franklin, Colin Powell, bell hooks, Bob Moses, Sidney
         Poitier, Bill Russell, Chief Justice of South Carolina Ernest
         Finney, Willie Mays, Jr., and James Earl Jones, along with
         many others, worked against racism to achieve success and to
         make significant contributions to the economic, educational,
         political, artistic, athletic, literary, scientific, and
         technological advancement of the United States;
           Whereas the contributions of African Americans from all
         walks of life throughout the history of the United States
         reflect the greatness of the United States;
           Whereas many African Americans lived, toiled, and died in
         obscurity, never achieving the recognition those individuals
         deserved, and yet paved the way for future generations to
         succeed;
           Whereas African Americans continue to serve the United
         States at the highest levels of business, government, and the
         military;
           Whereas the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick
         Douglass inspired the creation of Negro History Week, the
         precursor to Black History Month;
           Whereas Negro History Week represented the culmination of
         the efforts of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the ``Father of Black
         History'', to enhance knowledge of Black history through The
         Journal of Negro History, published by the Association for
         the Study of African American Life and History, which was
         founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland;
           Whereas Black History Month, celebrated during the month of
         February, originated in 1926 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson set
         aside a special period in February to recognize the heritage
         and achievements of Black people in the United States;
           Whereas Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated, ``We have a wonderful
         history behind us. . . . If you are unable to demonstrate to
         the world that you have this record, the world will say to
         you, `You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy
         or anything else.' '';
           Whereas, since its founding, the United States has
         imperfectly progressed toward noble goals;
           Whereas the history of the United States is the story of
         people regularly affirming high ideals, striving to reach
         those ideals but often failing, and then struggling to come
         to terms with the disappointment of that failure, before
         committing to try again;
           Whereas, on November 4, 2008, the people of the United
         States elected Barack Obama, an African-American man, as
         President of the United States; and
           Whereas, on February 22, 2012, people across the United
         States celebrated the groundbreaking of the National Museum
         of African American History and Culture, which opened to the
         public on September 24, 2016, on the National Mall in
         Washington, District of Columbia: Now, therefore, be it
           Resolved, That the Senate--
           (1) acknowledges that all people of the United States are
         the recipients of the wealth of history provided by Black
         culture;
           (2) recognizes the importance of Black History Month as an
         opportunity to reflect on the complex history of the United
         States, while remaining hopeful and confident about the path
         ahead;
           (3) acknowledges the significance of Black History Month as
         an important opportunity to commemorate the tremendous
         contributions of African Americans to the history of the
         United States;
           (4) encourages the celebration of Black History Month to
         provide a continuing opportunity for all people in the United
         States to learn from the past and understand the experiences
         that have shaped the United States; and
           (5) agrees that, while the United States began as a divided
         country, the United States must--
           (A) honor the contribution of all pioneers in the United
         States who have helped to ensure the legacy of the great
         United States; and
           (B) move forward with purpose, united tirelessly as a
         nation ``indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.''.

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