For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 8, 2005
President Celebrates African American History Month
The East Room
In Focus: African American History Month
3:19 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon and welcome to the White House --
the people's house. Laura and I are pleased you're here, so we can
celebrate together the 79th Celebration of African American History
Month. We're here today because of the dedication and persistence of a
man named Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
In the 1920s, Dr. Woodson argued that if African Americans were to
take their rightful place in society, young Americans of all races
needed to learn about the black contribution to our history and
culture. So in 1926, he launched the first black history week. Today,
a movement that began in black churches and schoolrooms is observed all
across America -- including the White House. Welcome. (Applause.)
The Civil Rights pioneers of Dr. Woodson's era also had another
dream: a national museum to celebrate the history and achievements of
African Americans. On December 16, 2003, I was proud to sign
legislation that will create the National Museum of African American
History and Culture within the Smithsonian Institution. (Applause.)
Laura and I are pleased to welcome to the White House so many who were
instrumental in the passage of that legislation, and those who will
help us make the museum a reality.
I welcome members of the Congress: Senator Chris Dodd, thank you
for coming; Rick Santorum; Sam Brownback; and Barack Obama. Welcome.
(Applause.) Congressman Mel Watt, the Chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus is with us. Thank you for coming, Mr. Chairman.
(Applause.) Eleanor Holmes Norton, delegate from the District of
Columbia. (Applause.) Jack Kingston from the state of Georgia.
Welcome, Congressman, thank you for coming. (Applause.) And, finally,
Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick. Now, I've got a report for you:
today I was with her son, the Mayor of Detroit, who looked mighty
special. (Laughter and applause.) Welcome.
It's such an honor to be with Dr. Dorothy Height -- you look
great. Thanks for coming, Dorothy. (Applause.) Members of the
Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture,
thank you for serving.
Today is the first day in which folks are able to contribute to the
building of the museum. Laura and I want to be one of your first
contributors, and so I -- (applause.) You know where to find me.
(Laughter.)
I'm honored that members of the original Tuskegee Airmen have
joined us; we're proud of your service. (Applause.) I told the
members of the Tuskegee Airmen how important the example they set for
those who wear our uniform today and it is a shining example. And
you've just got to know that you've made a huge difference in the lives
of a lot of people.
I also want to welcome Mary Moore, or "Rosie the Riveter." Thank
you for coming; we're proud you're here. (Applause.) Frederick
Douglas IV, and his wife, B.J., are with us. Thank you for coming.
And Cicely Tyson -- the ever-beautiful Cicely Tyson (Applause.)
As we celebrate this month, we must remember a great actor, Ossie
Davis, who passed away on Friday. Laura and I, and many in this room,
were honored to salute Ossie and his remarkable wife, Ruby Dee, at the
Kennedy Center Honors last December. The entire Davis family are in
our prayers, may God comfort them in their sorrow.
I appreciate so very much the chance to have gone to Goree Island
in Senegal. Laura and I traveled there during my presidency. It was
an amazing experience for us. It was gut-wrenching to see the cramped
cells where Africans were held right before they began their journey to
America in chains. We stood in the "door of no return." I'll never
forget that feeling. It's a door through which so many innocent men,
women and children passed through. They would be loaded as cargo on
the ships for the long voyage across the Atlantic to a future of
slavery and servitude.
You know, it reminded me, standing in that door, as I think back of
standing in that door, it reminds me how important the museum is going
to be, because young Americans study this shameful period in history in
their schools and they read their textbooks, but most young Americans
will never go to Goree Island or get the same sense that we felt.
And so when the National Museum of American History and Culture
opens -- and it will open -- visitors will be able to have a much more
vivid sense of what slavery meant for real men and real women. It is
important to know -- and this museum is going to be a really important
museum, because it's important that our children know that there was a
time in their nation's history when one in every seven human beings was
the property of another. They need to know how families were
separated, denied even the comfort of suffering together. It's an
important lesson of a shameful period that the young must never
forget.
And they need to know that bigotry and discrimination did not end
with slavery; that within the lifetimes of their own parents and
grandparents, Americans were still barred by law from hotels and
restaurants; made to drink from separate water fountains; forced to sit
in the back of a bus -- all because of the color of their skin. We
need to teach them about the heroes of the civil rights movement, who
by their courage and dignity forced America to confront the central
defect of our founding.
And we all need to learn more about the men and women whose
determination and persistent eloquence forced Americans of all races to
examine our hearts, revise our Constitution and laws, and make America
into the nation it was always supposed to be.
The theme of this year's African American History Month is the
100th anniversary of "the Niagara Movement." Led by W.E.B. DuBois and
John Hope and William Monroe Trotter, the Niagara Movement rejected any
accommodation with discrimination, and challenged our nation to grant
its African American citizens the same rights enjoyed by other
Americans. In so doing, it helped lay a foundation for the civil
rights movement that would change America in the decades that
followed.
Like Dr. Woodson, W.E.B. DuBois placed his hopes in our youngest
citizens -- those who had not yet been taught to hate. So he directed
his call to them. He said, "We appeal to the young men and women of
this nation ... Stand up for the right, prove yourselves worthy of your
heritage and ... dare to treat men as men." His appeal echoes across a
century, doesn't it? It made sense then; it makes sense now. And
serves to remind us that while slavery has been abolished and
segregation outlawed, the struggle for justice and equality has not yet
ended.
At the start of this new century, we will continue to teach habits
of respect to each generation. We will continue to enforce laws
against racial discrimination in education and housing and public
accommodations. We'll continue working to spread hope and opportunity
to African Americans with no inheritance but their character -- by
giving them greater access to capital and education, and the chance to
own and build and dream for the future. In this way, African Americans
can pass on a better life and a better nation to their children and
their grandchildren, and that's what we want in America. (Applause.)
We're making progress, but there's more work to be done. Today,
American schools are no longer separate, but they're not yet equal.
Too many of our children still face what I have called the soft bigotry
of low expectations. With the No Child Left Behind Act we've raised
expectations. We believe every child can learn and we expect every
school to teach. And we measure. And guess what's happening? Test
scores are going up. There's an achievement gap for minority children
that is closing in America.
Today, the minority home ownership rate in America is at an
all-time high. That's incredibly good news. I love it when more and
more people open the door to their house and say, welcome to my home --
not just, welcome to where I live, but, welcome to my home. And we'll
continue to expand opportunity for home ownership in America.
We'll work to strengthen families. Children from two-parent homes
are less likely to end up in poverty or drop out of school. It's
important that families be strong in America. HIV/AIDS brings
suffering and fear into so many lives, and so we need to focus on
fighting this disease among those with the highest rates of new cases
-- African American men and women. We need to give our young people,
especially young men in inner cities, better options than apathy or
gangs and jail. And I want to thank Laura for taking on this
incredibly important initiative to help young men realize a great
future in America. (Applause.)
You know, in the last half-century, the cause of liberty has made
great strides in this country, and around the world. At each stage,
and on every front, African Americans have helped to lead this
advance. African Americans struggled peacefully for their own freedom
on the streets of Birmingham and on the Mall here at Washington, D.C.
Some of you were probably there. They have fought for America's
freedom on distant battlefields -- and at this moment many are serving
bravely in Afghanistan and Iraq, And we respect their courage and we
honor their sacrifice.
They know, as we do, that success of freedom on the home front is
critical to its success in foreign lands. As I said in my inaugural
address, we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of
bigotry at the same time. (Applause.)
We've made progress, and our work is not yet done. But we can
proceed with faith in our country and confidence in our cause. See,
history moves toward freedom because the desire of freedom is written
in every human heart. As W.E.B. DuBois declared nearly a century ago,
"The battle for humanity is not lost or losing ... The morning breaks
over blood-stained hills. We must not falter, we must not shrink.
Above are the everlasting stars."
I want to thank you all for coming. Thank you for helping us
celebrate this month, as well as to make it clear to our fellow
citizens we have a chance to build a fantastic museum, right here in
the heart of Washington, D.C., on the Mall -- (applause) -- to stand
proud -- and I'm confident there will be an appropriate web page --
(laughter) -- for people to be able to tap in. Perhaps you should
start, if you're interested, in going to the Smithsonian web page, and
I suspect there may be an avenue that will direct you toward this
important museum and cultural center, that will enable our fellow
citizens to participate in helping to build it.
There will be a reception at the end of the hall here. We're
really thrilled you're here. And may God continue to bless our great
country. (Applause.)
END 3:34 P.M. EST
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