[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 5 (Monday, February 5, 2001)]
[Pages 249-250]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7404--National African American History Month

February 1, 2001

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In 1915, Carter Godwin Woodson, the father of Black history, founded 
the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Each 
February, the Association proposes a theme to guide the celebration of 
National African American History Month. For this year, the Association 
has chosen ``Creating and Defining the African-American Community: 
Family, Church, Politics, and Culture.''
    This month in particular, we remember the stories of those who have 
helped to build our Nation and advance the cause of freedom and civil 
rights. We remember the bravery of the soldiers of the 54th 
Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the sailors of the USS MASON in 
service to our country. We remember those who marched on Washington, sat 
at whites-only lunch counters, and walked rather than use segregated 
buses. And we remember those, known only to each of us, who helped to 
build our families, places of worship, and communities.
    When we examine our Nation's history, we discover these and 
countless other stories that inspire us. They are stories of the triumph 
of the human spirit, tragic stories of cruelty rooted in ignorance and 
bigotry, yet stories of everyday people rising above their circumstances 
and the prejudice of others to build lives of dignity.
    This month, and throughout the year, let us celebrate and remember 
these stories, which reflect the history of African Americans and all 
Americans. We can all enjoy the works of writers like Paul Laurence 
Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes. 
In our Nation's schools, our children can learn to admire Booker T. 
Washington, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and others. And 
Americans from all backgrounds can be ennobled by the examples of 
Thurgood Marshall, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, Mary Church Terrell, and 
other civil rights leaders.

[[Page 250]]

    As we celebrate African American History Month, let us commit 
ourselves to raising awareness and appreciation of African American 
history. Let us teach our children, and all Americans, to rise above 
brutality and bigotry and to be champions of liberty, human dignity, and 
equality. And let us rededicate ourselves to affirming the promise of 
our Constitution.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, 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 2001 as National 
African American History Month. I call upon public officials, educators, 
librarians, and all of the people of the United States to observe this 
month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
February, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
                                                George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:16 p.m., February 2, 
2001]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 5.