Bill Text: FL S0798 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Black History Month

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-12 - Adopted [S0798 Detail]

Download: Florida-2013-S0798-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2013                             (NP)    SR 798
       
       
       
       By Senator Joyner
       
       
       
       
       19-00165-13                                            2013798__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution celebrating the 2013 sesquicentennial of
    3         the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and
    4         recognizing February 2014 as “Black History Month” in
    5         Florida.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, Floridians recently celebrated the birth month of
    8  two great Americans, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass,
    9  both of them leaders in the movement to abolish slavery, and
   10  joined all Americans in recognizing February as the month to
   11  commemorate the contributions of African Americans to our
   12  society, and
   13         WHEREAS, across this great nation, we joined together in
   14  celebrating the 2013 Black History Month theme, “At the
   15  Crossroads of Freedom and Equality,” and
   16         WHEREAS, long ago, approximately 12 million African men,
   17  women, and children were forcibly removed from their homelands,
   18  enslaved, and placed on ships that sailed to the Western
   19  Hemisphere, and
   20         WHEREAS, approximately 2 million African men, women, and
   21  children died on the Middle Passage, but 10 million survived and
   22  arrived in America, where they and their children lived in
   23  slavery, and
   24         WHEREAS, the Civil War erupted because the ideals upon
   25  which this country were founded are in direct conflict with
   26  slavery, a tenant recognized by the ratification of the 13th
   27  Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States of
   28  America, and
   29         WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by
   30  President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, thus making 2013 the 150th
   31  anniversary of that declaration making slaves in all confederate
   32  states “free forever,” and
   33         WHEREAS, our nation has celebrated Black history during the
   34  month of February since 1926, when Carter G. Woodson established
   35  Negro History Week, and
   36         WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century
   37  began in an effort to correct the failures of Reconstruction and
   38  erase the remnants of slavery still evident in Jim Crow laws, in
   39  continued segregation in nearly every aspect of daily life, and
   40  in the persistence of second-class citizenship for African
   41  Americans, and
   42         WHEREAS, 50 years ago, in March 1963, the historic March on
   43  Washington was led by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who
   44  delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of
   45  the Lincoln Memorial, foretelling the passage of the Civil
   46  Rights Act of 1964, and
   47         WHEREAS, as a testament to the strength of all African
   48  Americans throughout these struggles, we note the contributions
   49  to the political and social growth of American society of
   50  Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B.
   51  DuBois, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Carter
   52  G. Woodson, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Reverend Dr. Martin
   53  Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara
   54  Jordan, and Dorothy Height, and
   55         WHEREAS, the culture of the United States of America has
   56  been vitally enriched through the contributions of African
   57  American musicians, artists, and writers, including Louis
   58  Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie
   59  Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Leontyne Price, Marian
   60  Anderson, Andre Watts, James DePreist, Phyllis Wheatley,
   61  Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Alex Haley, Maya
   62  Angelou, Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Oprah
   63  Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose,
   64  Denzel Washington, and Hill Harper, and
   65         WHEREAS, African American sports figures have demonstrated
   66  their ability to be role models on and off the field and in and
   67  out of the ring as they stood up for their rights and beliefs,
   68  and these legendary athletes include Jesse Owens, Arthur Ashe,
   69  Muhammad Ali, Lee Roy Selmon, Freddie Solomon, Venus and Serena
   70  Williams, and Florida native Robert “Bullet Bob” Hayes, the
   71  first athlete to earn both an Olympic Gold Medal and an NFL
   72  Super Bowl Ring, and
   73         WHEREAS, the fields of medicine, science, and technology
   74  have all been advanced by the contributions of African American
   75  men and women, including Dr. Charles Drew, Dr. Daniel Hale
   76  Williams, Garrett Morgan, George Washington Carver, Dr. Mae C.
   77  Jemison, and Dr. Benjamin Carson, and
   78         WHEREAS, native Floridians, including Zora Neale Hurston,
   79  Charles Kenzie Steele, Sr., Jesse K. McCrary, Jr., Joseph E.
   80  Lee, Asa Philip Randolph, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Patricia
   81  Stephens Due have proudly represented our state as they
   82  contributed to the history and culture of the United States of
   83  America, and
   84         WHEREAS, it is important to celebrate the many achievements
   85  of African Americans in an effort to offer each American a
   86  broader perspective of the history of this nation and an
   87  appreciation for the diversity that makes this great nation
   88  strong, NOW, THEREFORE,
   89  
   90  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   91  
   92         That we celebrate the 2013 sesquicentennial of the signing
   93  of the Emancipation Proclamation and recognize February 2014 as
   94  “Black History Month” in Florida.