WHEREAS, African-American people have participated in the founding and building of our nation and have played a critical role in shaping the economic, cultural, and social fabric of our society; and

WHEREAS, African-American people have been leaders in every movement for progressive social change, including their own fight for emancipation, the struggle to organize labor unions, and the civil rights movement; and

WHEREAS, African-American people have consistently demonstrated their patriotism and loyalty to this country and have fought in every American war, often in segregated units, from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War, where nearly 275,000 African Americans served in the military; and

WHEREAS, Black History Month is not only a call to acknowledge the outstanding African Americans whose names we know, but also a call to pay homage to the many African Americans who have anonymously shaped our collective past and our future; and

WHEREAS, The celebration of Black History Month will provide an opportunity for schools and communities to focus attention on the heritage of African-American contributions to the United States and the State of California, and for students, in particular, to benefit from an awareness of these contributions; and

WHEREAS, Carter Goodwin Woodson, an African-American historian, recognized these accomplishments and, on February 7, 1916, organized one of the cultural landmarks of contemporary America, “Negro History Week”; and

WHEREAS, In the 1960’s, during the height of the Civil Rights movement, the observance of “Negro History Week” was expanded to “Black History Month”; and

WHEREAS, Innumerable African Americans have contributed to the history of the United States, including Nicholas Biddle, who was the first African American in uniform wounded in the Civil War; James W. C. Pennington, who was a minister and one of the first African-American historians; George Washington Williams, who was a lawyer and historian who wrote “History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion;” and Harriet Tubman, who traveled into the South to free slaves and help them escape to the North and also served as a Union spy during the Civil War; now, therefore, be it