Title: Original Black History Month Resolution of 2022
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
Original Black History Month Resolution of 2022
This resolution recognizes the importance of commemorating Black History Month to acknowledge the achievements of Black Americans throughout history.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 942 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 942

  Recognizing and celebrating the significance of Black History Month.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2022

      Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Mr. 
    Auchincloss, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bishop of 
 Georgia, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Bourdeaux, Mr. Bowman, Mr. 
   Brown of Maryland, Ms. Brown of Ohio, Ms. Brownley, Ms. Bush, Mr. 
  Butterfield, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. 
  Case, Mr. Casten, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clark of 
  Massachusetts, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. 
 Cooper, Mr. Correa, Mr. Costa, Mr. Crist, Mr. Crow, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. 
  Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Dean, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. 
DeSaulnier, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Michael F. Doyle 
of Pennsylvania, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Ms. Lois Frankel 
of Florida, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mrs. Hayes, 
 Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Jacobs of California, Ms. 
 Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Jones, Mr. Kahele, Ms. 
  Kaptur, Mr. Keating, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kilmer, 
  Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Mr. 
Larsen of Washington, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Ms. Lee of 
 California, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Levin of 
California, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney 
 of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Manning, Mrs. 
  McBath, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McEachin, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNerney, Mr. 
 Meeks, Ms. Meng, Mr. Mfume, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Morelle, Mr. 
   Moulton, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Neguse, Ms. 
    Newman, Mr. Norcross, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Halleran, Ms. Omar, Mr. 
    Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Payne, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Peters, Ms. 
   Pingree, Ms. Plaskett, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Quigley, Mr. 
    Raskin, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Rush, Mr. San 
 Nicolas, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. 
    Schiff, Mr. Schrader, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Scott of 
Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sires, Mr. Smith of Washington, 
Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Takano, Ms. 
  Tlaib, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. 
 Titus, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Torres of New York, 
 Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Mrs. Watson Coleman, 
  Mr. Welch, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Wilson of Florida, and Mr. 
Yarmuth) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Recognizing and celebrating the significance of Black History Month.

Whereas the theme for Black History Month 2022 is ``Black Health and Wellness'', 
        which considers activities, rituals, and initiatives that Black 
        communities have done to be well;
Whereas Black communities continue to face health challenges unique in their 
        severity in the United States;
Whereas COVID-19 data show that Black-American populations in the United States 
        experience higher rates of COVID-19-related hospitalization and death 
        compared with non-Hispanic White populations;
Whereas, in Michigan, Black Americans are 133 percent more likely to contract 
        the novel coronavirus and are overrepresented for deaths related to 
        COVID-19, accounting for 40 percent of all deaths statewide;
Whereas structural racism and residential segregation have forced a 
        disproportionate number of Black Americans into low-income neighborhoods 
        that make social isolation practices more challenging to implement due 
        to physical crowding and lack of resources;
Whereas a national analysis of county-level data confirmed that these adverse 
        socioeconomic conditions have caused counties with higher proportions of 
        Black Americans to have higher numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths;
Whereas inequities in education, employment, income, policing and incarceration, 
        health care access, chronic stress, and multiple other factors that 
        affect health increase, to varying degrees, Black Americans' risk for 
        morbidity and mortality in general;
Whereas on average, although Black women are younger (36.1 years) than United 
        States women overall (39.6 years), they have a higher prevalence of many 
        health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, cancers, diabetes, 
        maternal morbidities, obesity, and stress;
Whereas infant mortality rates for children born to non-Hispanic Black women are 
        twice as high as those for children born to non-Hispanic White women;
Whereas it is estimated that non-Hispanic Black women are three to almost four 
        times more likely to die while pregnant or within one year postpartum 
        than their non-Hispanic White and Latina counterparts;
Whereas research suggests that chronic exposure to environmental stressors, such 
        as racism, across the life span contributes to the weathering of the 
        health of Black women, increasing their allostatic load and, 
        consequently, compromising their reproductive health;
Whereas obesity is a major source of morbidity and mortality for all United 
        States populations, but non-Hispanic Black Americans have a higher age-
        adjusted prevalence of obesity than any other racial/ethnic group, with 
        estimates ranging from 34 percent to 50 percent;
Whereas there are numerous institutions and individuals fighting to improve 
        these health outcomes for Black individuals;
Whereas four historically Black (HBCU) medical schools are currently in 
        operation: Meharry Medical College (Meharry), Howard University College 
        of Medicine (Howard), Morehouse School of Medicine (Morehouse), and 
        Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU);
Whereas 13 other HBCU medical schools were operating in the late 1800s to early 
        1900s and were closed owing to low enrollment and limited resources;
Whereas HBCU medical schools have a two-fold mission: to diversify the health 
        care workforce and deliver high-quality and compassionate care to 
        underserved and underprivileged populations;
Whereas Morehouse School of Medicine's M.D. program is noted for its low 
        student-faculty ratio and for successfully matching nearly 70 percent of 
        its graduates in primary care specialties;
Whereas notable alumni of Meharry Medical College include the first Black-
        American woman epidemiologist, Theresa Green Reed, and the first Black-
        American president of the American Heart Association, Edward S. Cooper;
Whereas Bernard Tyson (1959-2019) was the first Black chairman and CEO of Kaiser 
        Permanente and was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential 
        People in 2017 for his dedicated mission to provide quality and 
        affordable health care for all;
Whereas Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
        launched the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium (BDCC), an independent 
        testing effort that has tested over 10,000 people;
Whereas Dr. Betty Smith Williams is not only the first Black person to graduate 
        from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio, but 
        she also went on to become the first Black person to teach at the 
        college or university level in the entire State of California;
Whereas Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the first Black woman to be the Administrator of 
        the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is well-known for 
        playing a major part in implementing the Patient Protection and 
        Affordable Care Act (ACA) during the Obama administration;
Whereas Tracey D. Brown is the first Black woman and person living with type 2 
        diabetes to be CEO of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the 
        largest voluntary health organization in the United States;
Whereas because of the efforts of these and other heroic individuals, health 
        outcomes for Black Americans have seen massive improvement;
Whereas according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the infant 
        mortality rate among Black Americans has dropped by more than 20 percent 
        since the late 1990s;
Whereas, since 1990, the overall cancer death rate has dropped faster in Black 
        Americans than White Americans among both men and women, largely driven 
        by more rapid declines in cancers of the lung, colorectum, and prostate 
        for Black Americans;
Whereas, from 2006 to 2014, the teen birth rate among Black Americans declined 
        by 44 percent;
Whereas of the more than 20,000,000 people who have gained health care coverage 
        under the ACA, 2,800,000 of them are Black Americans;
Whereas due to improvements in hygiene, medicine, and other public health 
        measures, life expectancy for Black Americans has nearly doubled since 
        the turn of the 20th century, a win for Black health which cannot be 
        overstated;
Whereas the month of February is officially celebrated as Black History Month, 
        which dates to 1926 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson set aside a special 
        period in February to recognize the heritage and achievement of Black 
        Americans; and
Whereas the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass inspired the 
        creation of Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Original Black History Month 
Resolution of 2022''.

SEC. 2. RECOGNIZING AND CELEBRATING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLACK HISTORY 
              MONTH.

    The House of Representatives recognizes the importance of 
commemorating Black History Month as it acknowledges the achievements 
of Black Americans throughout our Nation's history and encourages the 
continuation of its celebration to raise the awareness of this 
community's accomplishments for all Americans.
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