[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 5 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Pages 199-200]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7270--National African American History Month, 2000

January 31, 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 on 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

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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 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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:57 a.m., February 1, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 2.