Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Presidential Documents 7601 

Proclamation 10699 of January 31, 2024 

National Black History Month, 2024 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

This National Black History Month, we celebrate the vast contributions 

of Black Americans to our country and recognize that Black history is 

American history and that Black culture, stories, and triumphs are at the 

core of who we are as a Nation. 

The soul of America is what makes us unique among all nations. We 

are the only country in the world founded on an idea. It is the idea that 

we are all created equal and deserve to be treated with equal dignity throughout our lives. While we still grapple today with the moral stain and vestiges 

of slavery—our country’s original sin—we have never walked away from 

the fight to fully realize the promise of America for all Americans. Throughout our history, Black Americans have never given up on the promise 

of America. Unbowed by the forces of hate and undaunted as they fought 

for centuries against slavery, segregation, and injustice, Black Americans 

have held a mirror up to our Nation, allowing our country to confront 

hard truths about who we are and pushing us to live up to our founding 

ideals. They have helped redeem the soul of our Nation, ensuring the promises in our founding documents were not just words on a page but a 

lived reality for all people. In the process, the vibrancy of Black history 

and culture has enriched every aspect of American life. 

Since taking office, the Vice President and I have worked to continue this 

legacy of progress and lay down a foundation for a stronger, more equitable 

Nation. On my first day as President, I signed a historic Executive Order 

on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities 

Through the Federal Government. In February 2023, I signed an additional 

Executive Order to acknowledge the unbearable human costs of systemic 

racism and to direct the entire Federal Government to advance equity for 

those who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely 

affected by persistent discrimination, poverty, and inequality, including the 

Black community. That includes building an economy that grows from the 

middle out and bottom up, not the top down. So far, we have created 

over 14 million jobs and in 2023, the Black unemployment rate was lower 

than in any other year on record. 

We are addressing historic health inequities for Black Americans by making 

systemic changes to our health care systems that increase healthcare access 

while lowering costs. Today, more Black Americans have health insurance 

than at any previous time in American history. We are working to address 

the Black maternal health crisis—ensuring dignity, safety, and support for 

Black moms. The Vice President has helped elevate this critical issue to 

a national priority by calling on States to extend Medicaid postpartum 

coverage from two months to one year. 

My Administration is also working to close racial gaps in education and 

economic opportunity. To that end, we have delivered over $7 billion in 

funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and are working 

to expand access to home-ownership—a major source of generational wealth 

for families—while aggressively combating racial discrimination in housing. 

Our update to the Thrifty Food Plan is keeping 400,000 Black kids out 


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7602 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Presidential Documents 

of poverty every month and making sure millions more have enough food 

to eat. By 2025, we are working to ensure that 15 percent of Federal contracting dollars goes to small disadvantaged businesses, including Blackowned small businesses. We are also replacing poisonous lead pipes so 

every American can turn on a faucet at home or school and drink clean 

water. 

To deliver equal justice under the law, we are appointing judges to the 

Federal bench who reflect all of America, including Supreme Court Justice 

Ketanji Brown Jackson and more Black women to the Federal circuit courts 

than all previous administrations combined. I also signed a historic Executive 

Order that implemented key elements of the George Floyd Justice in Policing 

Act: banning chokeholds and restricting no knock warrants by Federal law 

enforcement, creating a national database of officer misconduct, and promoting effective and accountable community policing that advances public 

trust and safety. I also signed the first major gun safety legislation in nearly 

30 years as well as a long-overdue law to make lynching a Federal hate 

crime in Emmett Till’s name. My Administration continues to call on the 

Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the 

Freedom to Vote Act to secure the right to vote for every American. 

Today, I am reminded of something Amelia Boynton said when reflecting 

on her march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on what would be known 

as Bloody Sunday: ‘‘You can never know where you’re going unless you 

know where you’ve been.’’ America is a great Nation because we choose 

to learn the good, the bad, and the full truth of the history of our country— 

histories and truths that we must preserve and protect for the next generation. 

This National Black History Month, as we remember where we have been, 

may we also recognize that our only way forward is by marching together. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2024 as 

National Black History Month. I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with 

relevant programs, ceremonies, and activities. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day 

of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the 

Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortyeighth. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02344 

Filed 2–2–24; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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