09 February 2005
Bush Pledges Support for African-American History Museum
President underscores the importance of African-American History Month
Washington – A little more than a year after signing legislation to establish a new museum under the Smithsonian Institution for African American history and culture, President Bush pledged that he and first lady Laura Bush would be among the first contributors to make the museum a reality in Washington.
The president had invited the members of the Council and Scholarly Committee of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture to the East Room of the White House February 8, 2005, to commemorate African-American History Month. They were joined by distinguished African-Americans from government, the arts, academe, and the private sector, including members of the Tuskegee Airmen and the newly elected Democratic senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.
This February marks the 79th celebration of African-American History Month since Carter G. Woodson, a black historian who brought African-American history into many universities, instituted the celebration as a weeklong event in 1926.
At this ceremony to begin fund-raising for the new museum, Bush explained how vital it is for all Americans to comprehend the horrors of slavery and the significance of African-American achievements both in the United States and around the world. This museum, he said, would be a primary tool in that educational process.
Bush pointed to his visit to Gorée Island in Senegal, through which many slaves passed on their way to North America, as a moment that reinforced the horrors of slavery for him and made clear the importance of the museum.
"When the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opens -- and it will open -- visitors will be able to have a much more vivid sense of what slavery meant for real men and real women," he said.
It is equally important, he said, for everyone to know that "discrimination didn't end with slavery, that within the lifetime of their own parents and grandparents, Americans were still barred by law from hotels and restaurants, made to drink from separate water fountains, forced to sit in the back of the bus -- all because of the color of their skin."
This year's African-American History Month celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement of 1905, in which W.E.B DuBois, William Monroe Trotter, John Hope, and others sparked the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement by challenging the U.S. government to give African-Americans the same rights as other Americans.
"We're making progress, but there's more work to be done," Bush said, citing the progress seen under his administration’s "No Child Left Behind Act," which is helping to improve the academic performance of minorities. Also, minority home ownership is at an all-time high, he added.
"In the last half century, the cause of liberty has made great strides in this country, and around the world," Bush said. "At each stage, and on every front, African-Americans have helped to lead this advance."
