[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2682-2689]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, February is designated as Black History 
Month, and I want to take this opportunity to utilize this very 
practical observance, or practical designation.
  The observances have very practical values. Some people have said 
they are useless and also they are insulting because our history goes 
on all the time. Why do we need to single it out for just one month? 
And if they are important, why only have one month?
  Well, the way Americans do things, part of our culture and part of 
our way of life is we do highlight things, days of observances, 
holidays, special ceremonies, all these things are part of the way we 
capture people's attention.

                              {time}  1430

  I am grateful for the fact that the whole month of February is 
designated as Black History Month. There was a time when there was no 
such designation, and there was a gentleman named Carter G. Woodson who 
resided here in Washington D.C. who worked for years to get a Black 
History Week designation.
  The purpose for his Black History Week designation was a practical 
one. He wanted an opportunity to be able to highlight some of the 
achievements of African Americans over the years. So the fact now that 
television stations and corporations and various other people have 
pitched in and they pay homage to Black History Month is an achievement 
to be saluted. I congratulate the people who worked to have that done. 
It is for us, both black and white, to understand ways in which we can 
take advantage of the fact that this observance exists. You cannot 
separate American history from black history or black history from 
American history. The history of African Americans certainly is 
interwoven with the history of the United States of America in a way 
which can never be separated.
  I would like to see us deal with black history as a continuum. The 
fact that people in small groups or individuals made contributions 
should not be played down. We are proud of the fact that you have a 
whole series of individual achievements that were highlighted when you 
start celebrating. We know that Thomas Edison had a black assistant who 
played a great role in what he did. Alexander Graham Bell. The inventor 
of the traffic light was a black man. Crispus Attucks was one of the 
first people to fall in the Boston Massacre. Crispus Attucks was a 
black man. There are a whole bevy of achievements that are saluted.
  We often bring up the Tuskegee Airmen and how it took black groups 
highlighting the achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II 
before they were recognized nationally by the entire American public. 
They did not fly in a segregated war. They were escorts for bombers 
flying to Germany in World War II. They played a major role and should 
have been recognized right away, but that was not the case.
  So the separate recognition and the efforts made by people to 
highlight their group achievements have been very important. Dorey 
Miller, who was one lone individual, needs to be celebrated and 
highlighted and maybe we will one day get an appropriate Congressional 
Medal of Honor for Dorey Miller. Dorey Miller happened to be a black 
man who was in the Navy, on one of the ships that was attacked on the 
day of the Pearl Harbor raid. Dorey Miller was a cook. He was not 
allowed to handle the guns at all. He had never been trained as a 
gunner and generally was forced to stay away from any kind of combat 
training. But on the day of Pearl Harbor, Dorey Miller shot down two 
Japanese planes standing on the deck of the Arizona, I think it was, 
with courage and skill fought back and deserves to be recognized. And 
on and on it goes in terms of highlighting individuals.
  I think as we highlight individuals, we also should understand that 
the social and political and economic history is much more complicated 
and has to be part of what we discuss as we observe Black History Month 
in February. I would like to call the attention of the Members to the 
fact that the Public Broadcasting System, which is under attack right 
now for various reasons, from the left and the right, is not given the 
kind of acclaim they deserve for producing magnificent programs. The 
quality of their programming is really outstanding.
  They did a series on slavery. That series ended last night. I saw the 
last part of it. It is a magnificent series that introduces a number of 
basic facts that most people have never known and others have 
forgotten. It also highlights the passion and the fervor of the 
struggle, the struggle on both sides, the struggle of the African 
slaves to get free in this country and the struggle and fervor of the 
people on the other side who wanted them very much to never be free 
because they were property earning great profits. The magnitude of 
those profits earned by slave labor was discussed at great length.
  Everybody in this country needs to understand the role of slave labor 
in the building of the wealth of America. They need to understand it 
was not just the South but New York City was one of the biggest, it was 
the second or third largest port where slaves came into the country. 
They need to understand that although cotton was king and very 
profitable, it was profitable not only for the people who grew the 
cotton in the South but the mills in New England and in the North that 
made textiles also profited greatly from the slave labor that produced 
the cotton that they made into textiles. That piece of economic history 
is very important to understand and comprehend.
  People dismiss and consider it an insult when certain groups of 
African Americans say that we do reparations. Reparations is not a 
silly idea. Reparations ought to be considered because of the fact that 
so much slave labor, free labor, labor taken with no compensation, went 
into the building of this Nation, that there ought to be some 
consideration in some way. I will not go into any great detail at this 
point, but this Capitol was built by slaves. This Capitol was built by 
slaves. Only recently have they discovered documents which certainly 
make it quite clear that slave labor built the Capitol. They have the 
actual records of how they contracted with the masters of the slaves 
and paid them, I think, $5 a week or something for their slaves to 
work. You can document it if you are interested in seeing it in greater 
detail and if you doubt that that is the truth, but the Capitol was 
built by slave labor and much of Washington and much of the east coast, 
I assure you, in the early days, before the Civil War, was built with 
slave labor as well.
  We have an African-American museum that is about to be undertaken 
here in Washington with the support of our government. It is going to 
be a museum which brings all this together. We have achieved, finally, 
the American Indian museum on the Mall that opened, I think, last year. 
That American Indian museum pays proper homage to the original 
Americans who were here when the explorers from Europe came. I think 
that is very important. But proper homage has not been paid to the 
Africans who helped to build this Nation, who were not here when the 
Europeans came, who did not come voluntarily as immigrants, but who 
came here kidnapped and in chains, but nevertheless their labor helped 
to build America.
  That African-American museum is going to be a part of the Smithsonian 
Institute. That African-American museum will be partially financed by 
the Federal Government and partially financed by private funds, I think 
like the museum of the Holocaust, partially paid for with private funds 
and some government funds.
  The African-American museum is a great opportunity to accomplish what 
I was talking about before in terms of the continuum, showing in a 
continuation the economic, social, and political development of black 
life in America and what the impact of African-

[[Page 2683]]

American labor and participation was here in America.
  It is going to be on the Mall, I am told by my colleague, the great 
John Lewis, John Lewis, who has participated in the making of a great 
deal of African-American history. John participated the hard way. He 
was a hero in the civil rights struggle. If you want to go back and 
watch the films, you can see John on the Edmund Pettis Bridge getting 
beaten up. You can see John in some film of the freedom rides where 
they were trying to integrate the Greyhound buses, interstate buses. 
You can see them beating John Lewis. So John Lewis was definitely a 
part of history. It is altogether fitting and proper that John Lewis 
has played a major role as we prepare for this museum to be developed 
and opened on the Mall here. John tells me that it is going to be on 
the Mall. There was some question about whether it would be located on 
the Mall or somewhere else. There were people who said the Mall is 
crowded now and there is no more room for another museum. There were 
people who felt that there were other locations in Washington where you 
should put the African-American museum; but I am so proud of the fact 
that John reports, and I salute President Bush, John reports that 
President Bush says he wants the museum on the Mall. He will support 
the building of the African-American museum on the Mall.
  We will have collected there the whole range of activities that go 
into the making of the history of a people. I am certain that a lot of 
things that have been lost will now be found. The records of the early 
Members of Congress after the Civil War who were black, one has to 
search very diligently to find out who was here, what kinds of speeches 
they made and what the situation was and the whole drama that was 
played out as they removed the more than 30 African-Americans who came 
to Congress and the Senate shortly after the Civil War. That whole 
drama is a story that needs to be told as there are many other stories 
that need to be told.
  The story needs to be told of what it meant for the early colonists 
to have all that slave labor that was available through the slaves in 
terms of overcoming the wilderness that was quite unfriendly and the 
wilderness that had in many cases defeated the gentlemen who came from 
Great Britain who were not prepared to do the kind of hard work that 
had to be done to sustain a nation in the wilderness.
  The story has to be told of how in the French and Indian wars, the 
blacks fought side by side with George Washington and the Americans 
against the French, and the Revolutionary War where blacks divided. 
Some wanted freedom, they were promised freedom by the English and they 
fought on the side of the English; and many more fought on the side of 
the American patriots. George Washington had a major assistant who was 
black, who has gotten lost in history out there and would be retrieved.
  The whole history of how in New York City, the building of that city 
and the movement of the black population from one place to another 
would be retrieved in this African-American museum. Central Park was a 
major location of an African-American settlement. That settlement was 
unceremoniously bulldozed and removed later on. That story needs to be 
told.
  The story of the Negro burial ground in lower Manhattan which 
recently received a memorial. A memorial was built there because we 
have a Federal building that was being built on that ground over the 
Negro burial ground, and the excavation process brought up skeletons 
and indicated it was a ceremony and there was a protest. This is a 10-
year project that went on. Finally, the settlement was that they built 
a memorial right there at the Federal building and they reinterred the 
bones of those who had been dug up. I was at that ceremony, recognizing 
the tremendous cost that was sustained by the African-American 
community at that time.
  Facts came to light as to terms of the volume, the large numbers of 
people who were worked to death. They even took some of the bones to 
various institutions and analyzed the bones and the trauma that had 
been experienced by the bones and found out that necks were broken 
because of the load that they had to carry, that spines were cracked 
and the horror of slave labor you get from that Negro burial ground 
memorial in New York.
  That is one of many black history exhibitions and museums and 
libraries across the country. They all make a small contribution. The 
wonderful thing about having an African American museum on the Mall is 
that it says to all of America, it says to the whole world, that we are 
prepared to recognize fully the involvement, the contributions and the 
role played by African Americans in the history of the United States of 
America. Across the country we have a lot of small museums that deserve 
to be examined. As you travel from one place to another, you can find 
in many places various museums and cultural centers.

                              {time}  1445

  In Richmond, Virginia there is the Black Museum and Cultural Center. 
Out in Idaho there is the Black History Museum. Right here in 
Washington, of course, we have the Anacostia Museum; and the Museum of 
African American History in Boston; New York Institute for Special 
Education in the Bronx, a small recent one; the Lucy Craft Laney Museum 
of Black History in Augusta, Georgia; Charles H. Wright Museum of 
African American History in Detroit, Michigan.
  I am not going to read them all, but just to give some example of how 
there is a body out there, maybe too few.
  Rosa Parks Library & Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. I think the Rosa 
Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama is located in the same corner where 
she refused to go to the back of the bus. That is very symbolic. And 
the great National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is one of the most 
dramatic of the museums. Memphis, Tennessee was where Martin Luther 
King was assassinated. He was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, and 
that is the site of the museum. The Lorraine Motel has been converted 
into a civil rights museum.
  The University of Colorado Department of History has a museum; the 
African American Museum in Dallas, Texas; the Howard A. Mims African 
American Cultural Center in Cleveland; the African American Culture 
Links throughout the country now on the Internet. Of course in New York 
City we have the great Shimberg Library, which is probably the 
definitive collection of books and materials about African Americans, 
not just African Americans but Africans from time and memorial.
  So we would like to take this opportunity in February, when we have 
the observance and the attention is focused, to remind people that they 
can go find out quite a bit about black history in these places. The 
Public Broadcasting System's documentary which I referred to before, 
that is available. People can get the documentary itself, and it would 
be, I assure my colleagues, worthwhile to have a copy of that 
documentary which does a very dramatic and human presentation of 
slavery in America.
  There are a lot of different Black History Month events that are 
going on right now. Just to give a few examples, the Slave Life of 
Mount Vernon is being performed at the Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens 
in Mount Vernon here, not far away. The College of Notre Dame of 
Maryland is doing a Soul Bake Sale. The Writing on the Wall is an 
exploration of the recent renaissance of graffiti art as a form of 
social critique. It goes back to Africa, at the Community College of 
Baltimore. There is a Black History Month Film Series at the Walters 
Art Museum, et cetera. Many other events are taking place this month 
from here. Up to February 17, today, there have been many others.
  Mr. Speaker, I will submit for the Record two items: the Black 
History Month events in the metropolitan area, a listing of those 
events; and the Black History and Culture libraries and museums listing 
across the Nation.

[[Page 2684]]



                Black History Month Events in Metro Area


                         THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17

       How Old Is A Hero
       This musical production is a tribute to children of the 
     Civil Rights era., Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center., 
     Time: 4 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
       Soul Food Bake Sale
       Feed your soul with goodies like homemade rice pudding, 
     sweet potato pie, poundcake, chocolate cake and more., Where: 
     College of Notre Dame of Maryland., Time: 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
       Soul Food Cooking Class
       Learn how to prepare healthful soul food at the store known 
     for healthy food., Where: Whole Foods Market., Time: 7:30 
     p.m.
       The Writing on the Wall
       Explore the recent renaissance of graffiti art as a form of 
     social critique in this art exhibit by Aniekan Udofia., 
     Where: Community College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus., 
     Time: 11 :30 p.m.-1 :30 a.m.


                          FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18

       Black History Month Film Series
       This film series, ``Exploring African American Women 
     Through Film,'' includes ``Lift'' and ``Chisholm '72--
     Unbought and Unbossed.'', Where: The Walters Art Museum., 
     Time: 7:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                         SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19

       African-American Historv at the Walters Art Museum
       Celebrate Black History Month with an array of African-
     American art forms., Where: The Walters Art Museum., Time: 10 
     a.m.-4 p.m.
       How Old Is A Hero
       This musical production is a tribute to children of the 
     Civil Rights era., Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center., 
     Time: 1 p.m.
       Saturday Film Series
       Explore the triumphs and struggles of African-Americans 
     throughout history., Where: Banneker-Douglass Museum., Time: 
     12:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens ., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20

       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21

       DJ Workshop Featuring Ron Brown
       Washington hip-hop legend Ron Brown leads an instructional 
     workshop for aspiring and experienced DJs., Where: Community 
     College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus., Time: 11:30 a.m.-
     1 :30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African American spirituals., Where: 
     The Kennedy Center., Time: 7 p.m.
       Hip-Hop Panel Discussion
       A panel of experts discusses Hip-Hop Kujichagalia: Hip-Hop 
     and African American Self-Determination., Where: Community 
     College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus., Time: 12:20 p.m.-
     1:15 p.m.
       Presentation of Sistahs Speak Out: Hip Hop
       Sistahs Speak Out performs live hip-hop., Where: Anne 
     Arundel Community College., Time: noon-2 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                         WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African-American spirituals., Where: 
     The Kennedy Center., Time: 7:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                         THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African-American spirituals., Where: 
     The Kennedy Center., Time: 7:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African-American spirituals., Where: 
     The Kennedy Center., Time: 7:30 p.m.
       Black History at the Aquarium
       Spend the evening at the aquarium and see a presentation of 
     black watermen and a mini-lecture with David T. Terry., 
     Where: National Aquarium in Baltimore., Time: 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
       Black History Month Film Series
       This film series, ``Exploring African American Women 
     Through Film,'' includes ``Lift'' and ``Chisholm '72--
     Unbought and Unbossed.'', Where: The Walters Art Museum., 
     Time: 7:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington., Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens., Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                         SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African-American spirituals., Where: 
     The Kennedy Center. Time: 1:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
       Cabaret
       In celebration of Black History Month, the Theater Company 
     presents a spectacular evening of dinner, entertainment and 
     dancing. Where: Johns Hopkins University. Time: 6:30 p.m.
       Illumination: Master Works
       In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, this 
     display of African American Art is from the collection of 
     Harryette and Otis M. Robertson. Where: Towson University.
       Life Opera
       Hear a live performance of an original composition that 
     shows how the changes in music have complemented and mirrored 
     the lives of African-Americans. Where: Lexington Market. 
     Time: noon-2 p.m.
       Saturday Film Series
       Explore the triumphs and struggles of African-Americans 
     throughout history. Where: Banneker-Douglass Museum. Time: 
     12:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington. Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens. Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          Sunday, February 27

       Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
       Come watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform 
     works from its classic repertory including Ailey's signature 
     masterpiece exploring African-American spirituals. Where: The 
     Kennedy Center. Time: 1 :30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in Mount Vernon highlight the 
     lives and contributions of the slaves who built and operated 
     the plantation home of George and Martha Washington. Where: 
     Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens. Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                          Monday, February 28

       Baldwin Over Cocktails
       The National James Baldwin Literary Society presents an 
     evening of music and food, featuring readings of Baldwin's 
     work and other performances. Where: Mansion House Seafood 
     Restaurant. Time: 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
       James Baldwin Black History Month Celebration
       Come have a great night out featuring food, live music and 
     dancing all in support of The National James Baldwin Literary 
     Society in Baltimore. Where: Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. Time: 
     5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
       Slave Life at Mount Vernon
       In observance of Black History Month, interpreters 
     stationed at the Slave Quarters in

[[Page 2685]]

     Mount Vernon highlight the lives and contributions of the 
     slaves who built and operated the plantation home of George 
     and Martha Washington. Where: Mount Vernon Estate and 
     Gardens. Time: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.


                           Saturday, March 19

       Telling Our Stories . . . Our Way
       Authors who speak to the African-American experience 
     through various literary genres will talk to an audience of 
     adults and families. Where: Johns Hopkins University. Time: 9 
     a.m.-3 p.m.


                            Friday, April 8

       Theatre Morgan presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 7:30 
     p.m.


                           Saturday, April 9

       Theatre Morgan presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 7:30 
     p.m.


                            Sunday, April 10

       Theatre Morgan presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 3 p.m.


                            Friday, April 15

       Theatre Morgan, presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 7:30 
     p.m.


                           Saturday, April 16

       Theatre Morgan presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 3 
     p.m., 7:30 p.m.


                            Sunday, April 17

       Theatre Morgan presents Raisin, the Musical!
       Theatre Morgan's grand finale of the season features the 
     talents of the Morgan State University Fine Arts Department. 
     ``Raisin, The Musical'' is based on Lorraine Hansberry's ``A 
     Raisin in the Sun,'' which won the 1974 Tony Award for best 
     musical. Where: Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center. Time: 3 p.m.
                                  ____


              Black History & Culture Libraries & Museums

       The Black History Museum and Cultural Center, Richmond, VA, 
     http://www.blackhistorymuseum.org.
       The Idaho Black History Museum, http://www.ibhm.org.
       The Anacostia Museum & Center for African American History 
     and Culture, Washington, DC, http://www.anacostia.si.edu.
       Museum of Afro American History, Boston, MA, http://
www.afroammuseum.org.
       The New York Institute for Special Education, Bronx, NY, 
     http://www.nyise.org/blackhistory/.
       The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History, Augusta, GA, 
     http://www.lucycraftlaneymuseum.com/.
       Charles H Wright Museum of African American History, 
     Detroit, MI, http://www.maah-detroit.org/.
       Museum of Afro American History, Boston, MA, http://
www.afroammuseum.org/.
       DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL, 
     http://www.dusablemuseum.org/home.asp.
       Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American 
     History & Culture, Baltimore, MD, http://
www.africanamericanculture.org/museum_reglewis.html.
       African American Historical Museum & Cultural Center of 
     Iowa, Cedar Rapids, IA, http://www.blackiowa.org/.
       Rosa Parks Library & Museum, Montgomery, AL, http://
www.tsum.edu/museum/.
       National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN, http://
www.civilrightsmuseum.org/.
       University of Colorado Department of History, Colorado 
     Springs, CO, http://web.uccs.edu/history/ushistory/
afroam.htm.
       The African American Museum, Dallas, TX, http://
www.aamdallas.org.
       The Howard A. Mims African American Cultural Center, 
     Cleveland, OH, http://www.csuohio.edu/blackstudies/afam.html.
       African American Culture Links, http://cobalt.lang.osaka-
     u.ac.jp/krkvls/afrocul.html.

  Mr. Speaker, this is 60 minutes dedicated to the observance of black 
history, taken by the Congressional Black Caucus.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to any Member of the Congressional Black Caucus 
who wants to speak on this Special Order of the black history 
observance.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. OWENS. I yield to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, 
and I thank him for his leadership in coming forward during this whole 
month of February when the whole Nation is invited to think about the 
history of African Americans and about their present effort to obtain 
first-class citizenship.
  I was just at the White House, perhaps last week, it was when the 
President had a commemoration built around the new African American 
Museum, approved by the House and the Senate, something that African 
Americans have been trying to get ever since Civil War soldiers in 
Washington, D.C. asked for a museum. I want to just say how much I 
appreciate that the House and the Senate now have agreed that the 
Congress will pay for 50 percent, and we will raise money, we in the 
public, Americans of every background, for this museum here in the 
District of Columbia to commemorate the history, the very long history, 
a history as long as the history of the Nation itself, of African 
Americans in our country who were central to building the Nation as we 
know it, were critical to building its great economic might, and have 
been late because of the tragic history of our country in claiming the 
benefits and the rewards that most Americans are used to obtaining 
within a generation or two of coming to this country.
  To the gentleman from New York, from Brooklyn in particular, a very 
distinguished member of a number committees, the Committee on 
Government Reform, on which I serve; and especially the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, in which his long service has helped in 
many benefits in education that are remarkably important not only to 
African Americans but to our country, I say to him that I recognize 
that we began with a theme about the Niagara Movement.
  Some may wonder about the Niagara Movement, which in a real sense 
started the 20th century movement for equal rights, the forerunner of 
the NAACP. A number of Washingtonians were at that first call. I just 
celebrated the life of one of them, Mary Church Terrell, a woman who in 
her eighties was picketing out in front of public accommodations, yes, 
here in the Nation's Capital, a southern city which was as segregated 
as any part of the South, picketing to open ordinary accommodations. 
This woman was the first member of any Board of Education in the United 
States; a very distinguished history, and one of only two women who put 
out the call for African Americans to come from around the country to 
talk about what they should do as the 20th century dawned to eliminate 
racism and discrimination in our country.
  I want to note the extraordinary two works of Dr. David Levering 
Lewis, a historian who has won the Pulitzer Prize for his volumes on 
the life on W.E.B. Du Bois. This is the intellectual father of the 
civil rights movement, the first black to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard 
University, a man who in many ways was responsible for what remains the 
intellectual underpinning of black aspiration in America.
  This is an extraordinary work. I have just finished Volume 1 and am 
just beginning Volume 2. He had a very long life, died on the day that 
the March on Washington gathered here in his late nineties. So no 
wonder it took two volumes. But it was his remarkable life, a life that 
in a real sense takes us on a journey of 20th century America for what 
blacks have encountered and how their effort to obtain equality in our 
country has proceeded. I recommend it to anyone who is interested not 
only in serious history but in wonderful writing and in events that in 
a real sense help us understand a lot of what is happening today. It is 
extraordinary work, which is why I think it won the Pulitzer Prize in 
the first place.

[[Page 2686]]

  The second black to graduate from Harvard with a Ph.D. was one far 
less well known than W.E.B. Du Bois, whose name is so closely 
associated with the NAACP. He worked for the NAACP for ``The Crisis,'' 
their publication, for decades. He was central to its formation.
  But less well known is the second black person to graduate from 
Harvard, Carter G. Woodson. As Dr. Du Bois was the intellectual father 
of the NAACP and of the Civil Rights Movement, Carter G. Woodson was 
the man who discovered black history at a time when almost no publisher 
would even publish works, even serious works like his own, about 
African American history, and now he is regarded by his peers as one of 
America's great historians. Carter G. Woodson proceeded right here in 
the District of Columbia to do his own work in a brownstone located in 
the historic Shaw area, organizing his own organization, the 
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which 
continues to this day; his own presses.
  When I was a youngster going to segregated schools in the District of 
Columbia, there was a Negro history bulletin that came every other 
week. So he somehow managed to do on-the-ground education of ordinary 
blacks like us in the schools, and to do some of the most important 
writing of history, in the professional sense, that has ever been done. 
He started the whole effort to not rewrite but to write American 
history.
  People have to understand that much of American history as it 
described African Americans could only be called defamatory. Not only 
did it not bring out the contributions of African Americans, it defamed 
African Americans, built in the prejudices and discrimination of the 
larger society. It took a great intellectual like Carter G. Woodson to 
begin the process of undoing that.
  Now we have Ph.Ds from all the great universities. We see some of 
them on television telling the story of African American life in the 
many documentaries, for example, that are being shown.
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) mentioned that the Capitol 
was built by slave labor. I want to reinforce that. The Capitol was 
built, yes, by slave and free labor, and there were also immigrant 
labor who contributed to it. But this House and the Senate passed a 
resolution indicating that we should find some way to take note of the 
fact that this very place where we now stand, we owe to the labor of 
free and enslaved blacks. Some of the enslaved blacks were simply 
brought here to work by their masters. The masters were paid; the 
slaves were not.
  Some, frankly, were runaway slaves. My own great grandfather who came 
to Washington in the 1850s was a runaway slave. He did not work on the 
Capitol, but he certainly worked on the streets of D.C., because one 
could work on the streets. They were building D.C., and they did not 
ask them who they were unless the master came and found them, and under 
the Fugitive Slave Law, he could take them back. So that was always a 
real risk. But working on the Capitol, I am sure those were, as it 
were, well-documented slaves.
  But, Mr. Speaker, until now the legislation which requires a task 
force to be formed to make sure that this commemoration takes place has 
not been formed. I know that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Pelosi) has sent a letter to the Speaker, simply reminding him of that, 
because I am sure that that must be an oversight.
  But the Visitors Center is about to be completed and the time to take 
care of this is when we are under construction. If I may express my own 
opinion, nobody wants, or at least I do not want, a statue of some 
slave in the Capitol. That is not what we are after. Some kind of 
tasteful reminder of this place and how it came to be has by statute 
been mandated, and I simply draw to the attention of both sides of the 
aisle that we have not done the start-up work to getting the 
appropriate kind of memorial of some kind built.
  I mean, I think of the Vietnam Memorial. Nobody, when they thought 
there was going to be a Vietnam Memorial, ever envisioned that it would 
be that wall that now is a virtual place of worship.

                              {time}  1500

  It does not have any soldiers on it; it is just a wall with some 
names on it. In the District of Columbia, we have a Civil War memorial. 
It is the first memorial to the hundreds of thousands of African 
Americans who actually served in the Civil War. What it has are a 
listing of all those names. They served in the Navy and the Army. We 
got those names by working with Howard University, and there they are.
  It is not a wall; it is another kind of an edifice. But it is, by the 
way, the only one of its kind, the only memorial to African Americans 
who fought for their own freedom and for one Nation, indivisible, at a 
time when they were not free, because when you entered the armed 
services, and talk about some volunteer soldiers, these were real 
volunteer soldiers, they did not give you your freedom in return. In 
order to recruit you, they did not say, You serve us, you are free. You 
were still a slave.
  These are men who fought for their country at a time when we were in 
danger of becoming at least two countries. At the very least, let us 
begin here in the Capitol by remembering those who were black, some of 
them not free, who helped build the very place where we meet every 
week.
  Mr. Speaker, I do note that during this African American History 
Month, Black History Month, we just lost two great Americans, Shirley 
Chisholm and Ossie Davis. These were one-of-a-kind historic figures; 
Shirley Chisholm not only because she was first, but she was first in 
many ways.
  She was first in what she was willing to do to break barriers, the 
first African American woman elected to Congress, the first to run for 
President of the United States. I was in Florida at her funeral. She 
will be remembered. Indeed, she will never be forgotten.
  She said she did not want to be remembered for being first. Shirley 
Chisholm understood what was important. She believed that you have to 
do something in order to be remembered. To many of us, her being the 
first black woman to come to Congress was doing a whole lot. For her it 
was not doing a whole lot. But her record in this House is an 
indication that it was.
  But I think we would all do well to remember that before she died she 
did not even want to be remembered for what she is most likely to be 
remembered for, and that is being first to have the guts to run for 
President and being the first to become a Member of the House of 
Representatives itself.
  As a woman, I count myself and the 22 other African American women 
who have come since as her living legacy. None of us had to encounter 
what she encountered, which was a House with nobody in it that looked 
like her. She deserves to be remembered for what she did for our 
country, for what she did for African Americans.
  I do want to say about Ossie Davis, because I am still, as I was when 
he was alive, awed by his multiple gifts, it is very hard for me to 
understand people who have more than one gift. Most of us do not have 
even one. But here is a man who died nearing 90, therefore who lived 
through the worst days of segregation, and somehow or the other was 
able to press himself to bring his gifts out.
  Those gifts were across the board. Those gifts were the gift of 
language, his gift as an actor, his gift as a producer, his gift as a 
leader of the civil rights movement, his gift in letters and in arts, 
and his gift as a playwright. Heavens, would that any of us, even those 
who are just being born black, be able to do in their lives as well 
even one of those things Ossie Davis will be remembered for.
  We remember people in Black History Month precisely because they 
encourage us to do better, because they did it against far greater 
odds.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to say a word during this shooting war 
about the role of African Americans in the United States military, 
because if there is any moment to remember them and if there is any 
time to remember those who now serve, it is now.
  I have just come from a hearing this morning on the treatment of the 
National Guard and Reserve when it

[[Page 2687]]

comes to their health care. My congratulations to the chairman of the 
committee who called the hearing, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom 
Davis), the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. This is not 
the first hearing he has had on this matter.
  Mr. Speaker, the hearing was called because members of the National 
Guard and Reserve have complained about being treated as, for lack of a 
better word, I will call it second-class soldiers. They are not 
regularly enlisted soldiers. They are soldiers who are citizen 
soldiers, called forward in numbers we have never seen before. Almost 
50 percent of the troops in Iraq are National Guard and Reserve.
  When they are injured, they are not treated as enlisted people are 
treated. They are sent and held at medical hold companies, and these 
are scandalously underserved companies where they could not get medical 
treatment. The hearings have helped to focus on this and provide some 
improvements.
  But what made me think of them to today is the history of 
disproportionate service by African Americans in the armed services of 
the United States ever since the war that created our country, the 
Revolutionary War. This urge to serve, often, perhaps most often, as 
volunteers, it does seem to me we should note during this Black History 
Month.
  Dr. David Lewis in his volume begins to describe African Americans 
coming back after World War I. After you fought that kind of war, World 
War I, you kind of get your gumption, and even though the majority of 
African Americans lived in the South, we do note that that is when you 
had the great decade of lynchings, because so many of these African 
American soldiers came back, particularly to the South in the United 
States, and assumed that they should act like first-class citizens.
  It was perhaps the most shameful decade of our country, and certainly 
the treatment of these World War I veterans was perhaps the most 
shameful chapter in American history because of the upsurge of 
lynchings, many of them men just released from a war that is still very 
much debated, World War I, where people still try to find out why we 
were there, why did it happen. It resulted in all the aftermath. 
Woodrow Wilson tried to make sure, though, that such a war never 
happened again, and World War II was brought about in part because of 
the failings of World War I.
  I want to note the extraordinary over-representation of blacks in the 
Reserve and National Guard. Many of them, like so many volunteers in 
the Army today, are there first to serve their country, and, secondly, 
because they do not have the same economic rights that my son, that 
your son and your children have, and service in the volunteer Army is a 
way to go to college, a way to get a job. Any treatment of them other 
than first-class treatment in a war like this, a very controversial 
war, is very much to be criticized until we do much better.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, may I say that among those who are serving in 
this war are young men and women from the District of Columbia, the 
same as those who have served our country in every war since the 
Revolutionary War, and, if I may say so, very specifically in 
disproportionate numbers. For example, in the Vietnam War the District 
lost more men than did 10 States, and yet this is a city.
  I have gone to a number of funerals; I have gone to Arlington 
National Cemetery. And just as the first from the District of Columbia 
served without a vote, so today not only do my constituents serve their 
country without a vote. They pay taxes, second per capita in the United 
States, without a vote.
  That is bad enough, Mr. Speaker. But on top of that, to go to war 
without a vote, where your Member cannot vote one way or the other, and 
yet you volunteer for war, it seems to me that that ought to call to 
question whether or not the people of the District of Columbia ought to 
have equal representation in the Congress of the United States.
  There is a young man working in my office, his name is Emory Kosh, 
and he spent a year on the front lines in Iraq. When he came back, 
somebody told him I was looking for staff assistants. He came and I was 
pleased to hire him. I must tell you, I congratulate the armed services 
and I congratulate his parents, because he has been such an excellent 
worker.
  The armed services has done a great deal for African Americans 
because it was the best and continues to be the best equal employment 
opportunity employer in the United States.
  But this young man stepped forward just as the Congress opened with 
two of his buddies from the District of Columbia who had graduated from 
high school here, and they asked for a meeting with the gentleman from 
Illinois (Speaker Hastert) and our leader, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), simply to ask for the return of the vote in 
the Committee of the Whole to the District, a vote that I won in the 
103rd Congress and which was taken back from me when the Congress 
changed hands.
  They came to say, if I may paraphrase them, it would be a first step 
toward voting rights, and they came because they were about to see what 
we saw January 30, with the people of Iraq getting the very voting 
rights in their parliament that these three young men, who were just 
back from Iraq, did not have.
  So they used the occasion to remind the Congress that they were proud 
to serve, they would serve again, they were volunteers, but that our 
country had an obligation to them and their families and that was to 
allow them the same representation, the same equality in the Congress 
that interestingly they felt they had in the armed forces of the United 
States.
  Mr. Speaker, I draw that to your attention during Black History Month 
because I want my colleagues to understand that not all of this is 
history. In the District of Columbia now I am talking about a majority 
black population, about 60/40 black. But for 150 years the majority 
here was white. It is because the Congress of the United States has 
exercised an undemocratic proprietary sense of this city to intervene 
into its local affairs and to deny the citizens of this city the same 
rights that you insist upon for your citizens.
  Remember that during Black History Month. Remember that black people 
in the District of Columbia, white people in the District of Columbia, 
anybody in the District of Columbia, because they live in the capital 
of their country, the proud capital of their country, are least proud 
of not having the same rights, particularly when Emory Kosh and other 
young men and women find themselves this very day in Iraq, Afghanistan, 
and all over the world serving their country in our name.
  It is not history, Mr. Speaker, it is here and now; and we must take 
action here and now to make it history, to make it yesterday, just as 
slavery was yesterday, just as Jim Crow in the Nation's Capital was 
yesterday, just as the segregated schools I went to in the Nation's 
Capital were yesterday.
  Let us make unequal representation in the Congress of the United 
States yesterday, make it history, for black, white, Hispanic and 
people of every background who live in the District of Columbia, who 
live in their Nation's Capital.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia. Her point is that history is still 
continuing, and in the African American history museum that I spoke 
about before, there probably should be a section for unfinished 
business.

                              {time}  1515

  One of the pieces of unfinished business certainly is the fate of the 
District of Columbia respective of full representation in the House and 
the Senate.
  I would like to say that the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia had mentioned some individuals, and that is very much a part 
of the history that is ongoing, and I hope that there will never be a 
minimizing of the role that has been played by individuals like Shirley 
Chisholm, like Ossie Davis.
  But more closer to home, today is the 80th birthday of Congressman

[[Page 2688]]

Louis Stokes. Congressman Stokes was an outstanding Member of Congress 
serving on many different committees: the Select Committee on 
Intelligence, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and the 
Committee on Appropriations. The kinds of things he got done while he 
was here are legendary, and I hope that history does not lose track of 
the achievements of Congressman Stokes.
  A few days ago, at the ceremony for Shirley Chisholm, Congressman Ron 
Dellums was here. Ron Dellums is one of the most brilliant minds in 
America today still; but certainly when he was here, he had a chance to 
exhibit one of the most brilliant minds one would want to find on 
matters related to the military and international events. And Parren 
Mitchell also I hope will not get lost in history. These are people who 
served during the time that I have been a Member. Parren Mitchell from 
Maryland was a genius in the area of economic development. And he got 
started some things that continue and have been broadened to set aside 
for Federal contracts that started for minorities and was, of course, 
broadened to include women, and it continues.
  So we do not want to lose track of the heroes who might inspire our 
young people. One of the great values of the African American history 
museum is that it will bring all of this together. We have a great 
problem with our young people in terms of them understanding what the 
history has been and understanding what the challenges are. And I think 
that to have physically located in one place these kinds of items, such 
as blacks in the military, and there will be a section related to what 
the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia was saying before, not 
just the role of blacks in World War I and World War II, but it goes 
all the way back to the war of 1812 and the Revolutionary War. There 
have been very few wars that have been fought where a major role was 
not played by African Americans.
  So the stream of history, we want to make certain that that is 
properly handled; and then the mosaics, the little pieces, the 
individuals who made history should be a part of that in the proper 
places, and some of these heroes that I have just mentioned certainly 
should not get lost. The record and the inspiration and the 
achievements of Louis Stokes, Parren Mitchell, and Ron Dellums should 
live on forever.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his 
vigilance and for sponsoring this Special Order. I also thank him for 
his constant work and hard work with regard to education, fully 
understanding that as we celebrate Black History Month that a people 
cannot rise unless that people is educated. So I thank the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Owens) very much for all that he does every day.
  Mr. Speaker, those who have no record of what their forebearers have 
accomplished lose the inspiration that comes from history. These wise 
words were spoken by the Father of Black History, Carter G. Woodson. In 
1926 he initiated Negro History Week, a week-long celebration of 
African American cultural heritage. Woodson knew that self-respect 
sprang from self-knowledge. He knew that an awareness of our history 
was crucial to our dignity and essential in our fight for equal rights 
in this country.
  Carter G. Woodson also knew, as we know, that African American 
history is American history. African American history and American 
history is the sound of slaves invoking the Declaration of 
Independence. It is Sojourner Truth fighting for all of her sisters as 
she demanded, ``Ain't I a woman?'' It is the sorrow of spirituals and 
the joy of jazz. It is the horror of crosses crackling aflame in 
moonlight, of strange fruit dangling from treetops, of poverty and, 
yes, of pain.
  And it is the bravery of freedom fighters desegregating buses, lunch 
counters, and schools. Mr. Speaker, African American history is the 
diverse tapestry of people who compose this Congress.
  Carter G. Woodson would be proud to see that Negro History Week has 
blossomed into a month of events celebrating the giants of African 
American arts, letters, science, sports, and politics. He would delight 
in the flurry of assemblies in schools that showcase the inspirational 
stories of Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks, both of whose birthdays 
fall in the month of February.
  But Carter G. Woodson would be saddened that this flurry of attention 
to black history peters out as the snows of February melt out into the 
warmer days of March. He would realize, Mr. Speaker, that we still have 
a battle to wage and we are not stopping at February.
  We will fight for education funding, for Social Security, and for 
health parity between blacks and whites. We will not accept that the 
mortality rate for African Americans is 30 percent higher than for 
whites. We will not accept that homicide is the leading cause of death 
of black men. We will not accept that 21 percent of African Americans 
are without health insurance, and we simply will not accept that 
changing Social Security is a solution to these fundamental inequities.
  President Bush has declared the theme of this year's Black History 
Month to be the Niagara Movement. This movement, led by W.E.B. Du Bois, 
called for civil rights and civil liberties for all. In DuBois's 
``Address to the Nation'' at Harper's Ferry in 1906, he said: ``We will 
not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood 
rights. We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a 
free-born American, political, civil, and social; and until we get 
these rights, we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of 
America. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone, but for all 
true Americans.''
  It is in this spirit that I say, let us use this Black History Month 
as a springboard to call for equality for all Americans all year-round. 
Let us look to the leadership of Woodson and DuBois as we fight for all 
who toil and suffer among us.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to close with the words of a great man to 
whom we reluctantly bid farewell this Black History Month. In an 
interview last year, Ossie Davis said, ``We can't float through life. 
We can't be incidental or accidental. We must fix our gaze on a guiding 
star as soon as one comes up on the horizon. And once we have attached 
ourselves to that star, we must keep our eyes on it and our hands on 
the plow.''
  Mr. Speaker, let us not be incidental or accidental. Let Ossie Davis 
be our guiding star as we pledge to keep our hands on the plow and 
fight for equality every day of the year.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Owens) for yielding, and I would like to associate 
myself with some of the comments that both he and the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Cummings) have made relative to the import and the 
importance of African American History Month.
  I would certainly agree that all of those who have lived and who have 
come to this country have become a part of making America the great 
Nation that it indeed is. Oftentimes, when we think of black history, I 
grew up in an era where I was taught to read by unlocking words and, to 
an extent, we were taught that history meant his story, and lots of 
people think of history as meaning his or her story. I have been 
challenging young people throughout my district and every place that I 
have gone to view black history not so much in the context of history, 
but in terms of ``mystery,'' meaning that it becomes my story. And each 
one of us has a story that we can write or a story that we can tell.
  I spent part of Monday, I say to the gentleman from New York, with 10 
kindergartners in a school, and they were watching ``Roots'' as I came 
into the classroom. And before we ended the day, each one of them had 
decided that they were going to be an integral part of making black 
history and that they

[[Page 2689]]

were going to look back to understand where they came from so that they 
would have a better understanding of how they got to where they are, 
and they would have a greater awareness and appreciation of where they 
ought to be going.
  So I want to commend the gentleman from New York and the gentleman 
from Maryland for helping to bring alive the historical development of 
African Americans in this country so that all of us know that we 
continue to move forward even as we look back. I thank the gentleman 
for this opportunity.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by saying that this 
year, the year 2005, is a landmark year for the observance of African 
American history in that there will be an African American museum 
launched here on the Mall during this year. The money has been 
appropriated for the planning. There is a distinguished board of 
Americans who are going to go forward with this, including Oprah 
Winfrey, Ken Chenault of American Express, Tony Welters of AmeriChoice, 
and a whole group of business people and academics who will oversee the 
beginning of this process. I would like to call upon all celebrities 
out there who have money, because part of the arrangement is that the 
government will pay for one-half of it, and the other half has to be 
raised in private contributions. So I call on all of the celebrities 
and the stars and the athletes to come forward and let us make certain 
that this great project does not falter at all as a result of not 
having the private funds to match the government funds.
  It is a great day in the observance of African American history, a 
long haul from the day when Carter G. Woodson asked for a 1-day 
observance and could not get it, and then it finally became a week and 
a month. We want a museum that brings it all together right here in 
Washington to make sure that our children and the children of all 
Americans, not just African American descendants but all Americans, 
understand the role and the contribution of African Americans to the 
history of this great Nation.

                          ____________________