[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 2, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 5217-5218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2452]



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Part VI





The President





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Proclamation 7270--National African American History Month, 2000
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 2, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                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

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                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.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-2452
Filed 2-1-00; 10:57 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P