[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 4 (Monday, January 29, 2007)]
[Pages 87-88]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8103--National African American History Month, 2007

January 26, 2007

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    African Americans have been an integral part of America for 
generations, and our Nation is stronger because of their contributions. 
During National African American History Month, we honor the 
achievements of African Americans and recognize our continued 
responsibility to strive for equality for all our citizens.
    With grace and determination, African-American men and women have 
shaped our

[[Page 88]]

Nation and influenced American life. Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, 
Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr., advanced the cause of civil 
rights for all Americans and helped change the course of American 
history. Educators Booker T. Washington and Carter G. Woodson helped 
break down racial barriers in education to provide opportunity for all 
people. Americans have benefited from the achievements of scientists 
like George Washington Carver. Artists such as Pearl Bailey, Ella 
Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong inspired Americans and created some of 
the most celebrated music this Nation has ever produced.
    The theme of this year's National African American History Month, 
``From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas,'' recalls African 
Americans' long journey to justice and commemorates the courage and 
persistence of the heroes who called on our Nation to live up to its 
founding promise. A century after African-American soldiers fought for 
their freedom on the battlefields of the Civil War, African Americans 
struggled peacefully for their rights in the streets of Birmingham, 
Alabama, and on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Courageous civil rights 
leaders answered hate and discrimination with love and dignity, toppled 
segregation laws, and worked to make America a more just and hopeful 
Nation.
    All Americans can be proud of the progress we have made, yet the 
work for a more perfect union is not done. As we celebrate National 
African American History Month, we reaffirm our commitment to build a 
society where every individual has the opportunity to achieve the 
promise of this great land.
     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 2007 as 
National African American History Month. I call upon public officials, 
educators, and all the people of the United States to observe this month 
with appropriate programs and activities that honor the significant 
contributions African Americans have made to our Nation.
     In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth 
day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
first.
                                                George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 30, 
2007]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
January 31.