Black History Month

A month is never enough to celebrate the African-American contribution to our American Experience.

Commemorating the courageous actions and notable achievements of African-Americans in our nation's history can help us all gain a greater vision of the values that make America great. Looking toward the future, America must continue to celebrate those who have forged a way forward in liberty, justice, and compassion.

It's our convictions and actions throughout history that inform the current fight for racial equality. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin, Jesse Owens, Josephine Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver, to name a few, have all struggled hard to add their voices to our American Experience. Religion and personal belief were more often than not huge factors in their motivations and actions. Let's take the time to celebrate those that have come before us as they fit into the context of the civil rights struggle —a struggle that, in light of events in Ferguson, endures.