Bill Text: FL S0076 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Black History Month

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-03 - Introduced -SJ 00178; Read 2nd time -SJ 00179; Adopted -SJ 00179 [S0076 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0076-Introduced.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                  (Corrected Copy)    SR 76 
 
By Senator Joyner 
18-00018A-10                                            201076__ 
1                          Senate Resolution 
2         A resolution recognizing February 2010 as “Black 
3         History Month” in Florida. 
4 
5         WHEREAS, our nation has celebrated Black History during the 
6  month of February since 1926 when Carter G. Woodson established 
7  Negro History Week, and the theme for this year’s celebration is 
8  “The History of Black Economic Empowerment,” and 
9         WHEREAS, long ago, approximately 12 million African men, 
10  women, and children were forced to enter ships for lives of 
11  slavery in the Western Hemisphere, 10 million of whom survived 
12  the Middle Passage to arrive in America, and 
13         WHEREAS, the Civil War erupted because the ideals upon 
14  which this country was founded are in direct conflict with 
15  slavery, resulting in the ratification of the 13th Amendment, 
16  abolishing slavery in the United States of America, and 
17         WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century 
18  began in an effort to correct the failures of Reconstruction and 
19  erase the remnants of slavery still evident in Jim Crow laws, in 
20  continued segregation in nearly every aspect of daily life, and 
21  in the persistence of second-class citizenship for African 
22  Americans, and 
23         WHEREAS, as a testament of strength throughout these 
24  struggles, African Americans such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner 
25  Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, 
26  George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, Malcolm X., 
27  Thurgood Marshall, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie 
28  Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, and Barbara Jordan have contributed 
29  to the political and social growth of American society, and 
30         WHEREAS, through the contributions of African American 
31  musicians and writers, such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, 
32  Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, 
33  Dizzy Gillespie, Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Andre Watts, 
34  James DePreist, Phyllis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, James 
35  Baldwin, Richard Wright, Alex Haley, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, 
36  Gwendolyn Brooks, and Toni Morrison, the culture of the United 
37  States of America has been vitally enriched, and 
38         WHEREAS, African American sports figures, such as Jesse 
39  Owens, Arthur Ashe, Muhammad Ali, Robert “Bullet Bob” Hayes, a 
40  Florida native who is the only athlete to earn both an Olympic 
41  Gold Medal and an NFL Super Bowl Ring, Lee Roy Selmon, Venus 
42  Williams, and Serena Williams, have demonstrated their ability 
43  to be role models on and off the field and in and out of the 
44  ring as they stood up for their rights and beliefs, and 
45         WHEREAS, the fields of medicine, science, and technology 
46  have all been advanced by the contributions of such African 
47  American men and women as Dr. Charles Drew, Dr. Daniel Hale 
48  Williams, Garrett Morgan, George Washington Carver, Dr. Mae C. 
49  Jemison, and Dr. Benjamin Carson, and 
50         WHEREAS, African Americans who are native to Florida, such 
51  as Zora Neale Hurston, Charles Kenzie Steele, Sr., Jesse K. 
52  McCrary, Jr., Joseph E. Lee, Asa Philip Randolph, and Mary 
53  McLeod Bethune, have proudly represented our state as they 
54  contributed to the history and culture of the United States of 
55  America, and 
56         WHEREAS, it is important to celebrate the many achievements 
57  of African Americans in an effort to offer each American a 
58  broader perspective of United States history and an appreciation 
59  for the diversity that makes this country strong, and 
60         WHEREAS, February is the birth month of both Abraham 
61  Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two of the leaders in the 
62  movement to abolish slavery, and has been recognized at the 
63  local, state, and national levels as an appropriate month to 
64  commemorate the contributions of African Americans to our 
65  society, NOW, THEREFORE, 
66 
67  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida: 
68 
69         That February 2010 is recognized as “Black History Month” 
70  in the State of Florida, and the Florida Senate calls upon the 
71  people of this state to observe Black History Month through 
72  programs, ceremonies, and activities celebrating the historical 
73  and cultural contributions of African Americans.