Bill Text: FL S1468 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

Florida Senate Resolution 1468 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Black History Month

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-02-02 - Adopted [S1468 Detail]

Download: Florida-2016-S1468-Introduced.html

       Florida Senate - 2016                            (NP)    SR 1468
       
       
        
       By Senators Joyner and Thompson
       
       19-01844A-16                                          20161468__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing February 2016 as “Black
    3         History Month” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, each year, Floridians celebrate the birth month of
    6  two great Americans, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass,
    7  both of them leaders in the movement to abolish slavery, and
    8  join all Americans in recognizing February as the month to
    9  commemorate the contributions of African Americans to our
   10  society, and
   11         WHEREAS, in 2016, across this great nation, we celebrate
   12  the Black History Month theme, “Hallowed Grounds: Sites of
   13  African American Memories,” and
   14         WHEREAS, long ago, an estimated 12 million African men,
   15  women, and children were forcibly removed from their homelands,
   16  enslaved, and placed on ships that sailed to the Western
   17  Hemisphere, and
   18         WHEREAS, approximately 2 million African men, women, and
   19  children died on the Middle Passage, but 10 million survived and
   20  arrived in America, where they and their children lived in
   21  slavery, and
   22         WHEREAS, the Civil War erupted because the ideals upon
   23  which this country was founded are in direct conflict with
   24  slavery, a tenet recognized by the ratification of the
   25  Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United
   26  States of America, and
   27         WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by
   28  President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, and, in 2013,
   29  Floridians celebrated the 150th anniversary of that declaration,
   30  which made slaves in all confederate states “free forever,” and
   31         WHEREAS, our nation has celebrated Black history during the
   32  month of February since 1926, when Carter G. Woodson established
   33  Negro History Week, and
   34         WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century
   35  began in an effort to correct the failures of Reconstruction and
   36  erase the remnants of slavery still evident in Jim Crow laws, in
   37  continued segregation in nearly every aspect of daily life, and
   38  in the persistence of second-class citizenship for African
   39  Americans, and
   40         WHEREAS, in August 1963, the historic March on Washington
   41  for Jobs and Freedom, led by the late Dr. Martin Luther King,
   42  Jr., who delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the
   43  steps of the Lincoln Memorial, was a catalyst for the passage of
   44  the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and
   45         WHEREAS, as a testament to the strength of all African
   46  Americans throughout these struggles, we note the contributions
   47  to the political and social growth of American society of
   48  Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T.
   49  Washington, George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B.
   50  DuBois, Malcolm X, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
   51  Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Jordan, Shirley
   52  Chisholm, Dorothy Height, and President Barack Obama, and
   53         WHEREAS, the culture of the United States of America has
   54  been vitally enriched through the contributions of African
   55  American musicians, artists, and writers, including Charlie
   56  Parker, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count
   57  Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, James
   58  DePreist, Leontyne Price, Andre Watts, Phyllis Wheatley,
   59  Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Alex Haley,
   60  Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker,
   61  Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Hill Harper,
   62  Anika Noni Rose, and Jennifer Hudson, and
   63         WHEREAS, African-American sports figures have demonstrated
   64  their ability to be role models on and off the field and in and
   65  out of the ring as they stood up for their rights and beliefs,
   66  and these legendary athletes include Jesse Owens, Arthur Ashe,
   67  Lee Roy Selmon, Freddie Solomon, Muhammad Ali, Venus and Serena
   68  Williams, and Florida native Robert “Bullet Bob” Hayes, the
   69  first athlete to earn both an Olympic Gold Medal and an NFL
   70  Super Bowl Ring, and
   71         WHEREAS, the fields of medicine, science, and technology
   72  have all been advanced by the contributions of African-American
   73  men and women, including Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, George
   74  Washington Carver, Dr. Charles R. Drew, Garrett Morgan, and Dr.
   75  Mae C. Jemison, and
   76         WHEREAS, native Floridians, including Mary McLeod Bethune,
   77  Joseph E. Lee, James Weldon Johnson, Harry Tyson Moore,
   78  Harriette Vyde Simms Moore, Zora Neale Hurston, Asa Philip
   79  Randolph, Charles Kenzie Steele, Jesse K. McCrary, Jr., and
   80  Patricia Stephens Due have proudly represented our state as they
   81  contributed to the history and culture of the United States of
   82  America, and
   83         WHEREAS, it is important to celebrate the many achievements
   84  of African Americans in an effort to offer each American a
   85  broader perspective of the history of this nation and an
   86  appreciation for the diversity that makes this great nation
   87  strong, NOW, THEREFORE,
   88  
   89  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   90  
   91         That February 2016 is recognized as “Black History Month”
   92  in Florida.