Title: Black History Month

Summary: Celebrating the 2013 sesquicentennial of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and recognizing February 2013 as "Black History Month" in Florida, etc.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, across this great nation, we joined together in celebrating the 2013 Black History Month theme,  At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality,  and WHEREAS, long ago, approximately million African men, women, and children were forcibly removed from their homelands, enslaved, and placed on ships that sailed to the Western Hemisphere, and WHEREAS, approximately million African men, women, and children died on the Middle Passage, but million survived and arrived in America, where they and their children lived in slavery, and WHEREAS, the Civil War erupted because the ideals upon which this country were founded are in direct conflict with slavery, a tenet recognized by the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States of America, and WHEREAS, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, thus making 2013 the 150th anniversary of that declaration making slaves in all confederate states  free forever,  and WHEREAS, our nation has celebrated Black history during the month of February since 1926, when Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week, and WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century began in an effort to correct the failures of Reconstruction and erase the remnants of slavery still evident in Jim Crow laws, in continued segregation in nearly every aspect of daily life, and in the persistence of second-class citizenship for African Americans, and WHEREAS, years ago, in March 1963, the historic March on Washington was led by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who delivered his now famous  I Have a Dream  speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, foretelling the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and WHEREAS, as a testament to the strength of all African Americans throughout these struggles, we note the contributions to the political and social growth of American society of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Carter G. Woodson, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and Dorothy Height, and WHEREAS, the culture of the United States of America has been vitally enriched through the contributions of African American musicians, artists, and writers, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Andre Watts, James DePreist, Phyllis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Alex Haley, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, Denzel Washington, and Hill Harper, and WHEREAS, African American sports figures have demonstrated their ability to be role models on and off the field and in and out of the ring as they stood up for their rights and beliefs, and these legendary athletes include Jesse Owens, Arthur Ashe, Muhammad Ali, Lee Roy Selmon, Freddie Solomon, Venus and Serena Williams, and Florida native Robert  Bullet Bob  Hayes, the first athlete to earn both an Olympic Gold Medal and an NFL Super Bowl Ring, and WHEREAS, the fields of medicine, science, and technology have all been advanced by the contributions of African American men and women, including Dr. Charles Drew, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Garrett Morgan, George Washington Carver, Dr. Mae C. Jemison, and Dr. Benjamin Carson, and WHEREAS, native Floridians, including Zora Neale Hurston, Charles Kenzie Steele, Sr., Jesse K. McCrary, Jr., Joseph E. Lee, Asa Philip Randolph, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Patricia Stephens Due have proudly represented our state as they contributed to the history and culture of the United States of America, and WHEREAS, it is important to celebrate the many achievements of African Americans in an effort to offer each American a broader perspective of the history of this nation and an appreciation for the diversity that makes this great nation strong, NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida: That we celebrate the 2013 sesquicentennial of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and recognize February 2013 as  Black History Month  in Florida.