[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 5 (Monday, February 8, 1999)]
[Page 166]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7165--National African American History Month, 1999

February 1, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The story of African Americans is one of strength, suffering, 
courage, and triumph. Arriving on these shores more than 350 years ago, 
African Americans have been a central element of our national identity, 
and their long journey from the horrors of slavery and oppression 
through the struggle for equality and justice informs our national 
experience. By observing African American History Month each year, we 
not only remember the tragic errors of our past, but also celebrate the 
achievements of African Americans and the promise they hold for our 
future as one America.
    This year's theme, ``The Legacy of African American Leadership for 
the Present and the Future,'' is a recognition that we can draw strength 
and inspiration to face our challenges from the vision, voices, 
character, and accomplishments of the many extraordinary African 
Americans who have gone before us. These gifted men and women, from 
every walk of life and every field of endeavor, were shaped but not 
defeated by their experience of racism, and their response was to move 
our Nation closer to our ideals of freedom, justice, and equality.
    We remember Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, whose powerful 
firsthand accounts of their lives as slaves and the moral strength of 
their argument helped create the momentum that brought an end to slavery 
in America. In our own century, we all have benefited from the skills, 
determination, and indefatigable spirit of such African American leaders 
as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Ella Baker, 
Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whether 
organizing peaceful demonstrations, creating educational and economic 
opportunities, fighting Jim Crow laws in the courts, or conducting 
peaceful protests, they awakened the conscience of our Nation and won 
signal victories for justice and human dignity. We recall the courage of 
the Little Rock Nine, who opened the doors of American education for so 
many other deserving young people. We remember the strength of Rosa 
Parks, who stood up for civil rights by sitting down where she belonged. 
We continue to draw inspiration from the leadership of Dorothy Height, 
who has done so much to strengthen families and communities not only in 
our own Nation, but also around the world.
    These and so many other African American leaders have enriched our 
national life and shaped our national character. They have challenged us 
to recognize that America's racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity will 
be among our greatest strengths in the 21st century.
    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 
1999 as National 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 first day of 
February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., February 3, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 4.