IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. RES. 181
Recognizing and celebrating the significance of Black History Month.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH3, 2025
Mr. G
REENof Texas (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AMO, Ms. ANSARI, Ms.
B
ARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BISHOP, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWN, Ms.
B
ROWNLEY, Ms. BYNUM, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Mr.
C
ASE, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COSTA,
Ms. C
ROCKETT, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania, Mr.
D
ELUZIO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ELFRETH, Mr.
E
SPAILLAT, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mr. FIELDS, Mr. FIGURES,
Mrs. F
LETCHER, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GARCIAof California, Mr. GOLD-
MANof New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HOYER, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr.
J
ACKSONof Illinois, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mr.
K
ENNEDYof New York, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LANDSMAN, Ms.
L
EEof Pennsylvania, Mr. LICCARDO, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms.
M
CCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Ms.
M
OOREof Wisconsin, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. NADLER, Mr.
N
EAL, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PRESSLEY,
Mrs. R
AMIREZ, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SOTO,
Ms. S
TRICKLAND, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms.
T
ITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TORRESof New York,
Mrs. T
RAHAN, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WATERS,
Mrs. W
ATSONCOLEMAN, and Ms. WILSONof Florida) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform
RESOLUTION
Recognizing and celebrating the significance of Black History
Month.
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•HRES 181 IH
Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Original Black
History Month Resolution of 2025’’;
Whereas this resolution has been endorsed by the Association
for the Study of African American Life and History;
Whereas the theme for Black History Month 2025 is ‘‘Afri-
can Americans and Labor’’ which focuses on the various
ways that Black labor has been foundational to the
United States becoming the richest country in the world;
Whereas the labor of African-American/Black people has been
transformational throughout the United States;
Whereas this resolution highlights African-American/Black
people’s labor from slavery through segregation into con-
temporary times;
Whereas enslaved Africans were first brought to the Amer-
ican colonies to serve as a perpetual free labor workforce
upon which the colonies and eventually the United States
would be built;
Whereas, during enslavement, African people were the agri-
cultural labor force that planted the seeds, harvested the
crops, and fed the colonies while enduring a crime
against humanity;
Whereas this crime against humanity consisted of nearly 250
years of uncompensated labor;
Whereas the labor of the enslaved has been valued at roughly
$5,900,000,000,000 in 2016 dollars;
Whereas more than 10,000,000 African slave laborers’ lives
were sacrificed to make America great;
Whereas, although the General Order No. 15 promise of 40
acres and a mule never materialized after the Civil War
and emancipation, some Black people became landowners,
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•HRES 181 IH
farmers, and sharecroppers, and continued contributing
to the country’s agricultural industry;
Whereas, as the United States economy transitioned into an
industrial-based economy, many Black people migrated to
wage-earning jobs;
Whereas convict leasing, or slavery by another name, contin-
ued to exploit the labor of the (often unjustly) incarcer-
ated, the majority of whom were Black people, by leasing
convict labor to private companies;
Whereas, during the early Reconstruction period, 214 dele-
gates attended the Colored National Labor Union con-
vention in December 1869 because White trade unions
excluded Black workers;
Whereas Mary McLeod Bethune started a school for Black
girls in Florida in 1904, eventually being elected the first
woman president of the National Association of Teachers
in Colored Schools, which would eventually become the
American Teachers Association;
Whereas Bethune would go on to be appointed director of Af-
rican American Affairs by President Franklin D. Roo-
sevelt and founded the National Council of Negro
Women;
Whereas, during the Great Migration of 1916 to 1930, over
1,000,000 Black people moved from the South to the
North, taking advantage of the labor shortage created in
the wake of World War I;
Whereas, in 1921, Nannie Helen Burroughs established the
National Trade School for Women and Girls, which
sought to improve working conditions and expand career
pathways for Black women;
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•HRES 181 IH
Whereas A. Philip Randolph was a labor organizer and civil
rights activist who helped create the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters and Maids in 1925, the first Black
union to receive a charter in the American Federation of
Labor;
Whereas the growing need for workers and soldiers during
World War II led to the economic advancement of Black
people, including the abolishment of racial pay differen-
tials and the integration of the Armed Forces;
Whereas, during the civil rights movement, Black activists la-
bored to organize a variety of movements, most notably
the Montgomery bus boycotts in 1955 and the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, where Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his ‘‘I Have a Dream’’
speech;
Whereas A. Philip Randolph was the lead organizer of the
March on Washington in 1963, which brought more than
200,000 persons to Washington, DC, in support of civil
rights for Black people in America;
Whereas Anna Arnold Hedgeman, a Black activist, educator,
writer, and the only woman on the March’s administra-
tive committee, persuaded organizers to include economic
and women’s issues in the day’s program;
Whereas, in 1965, Randolph and fellow March organizer
Bayard Rustin founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute
(the African-American constituency group of the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations (AFL–CIO)), and they coled the institute
until Randolph’s death in 1979;
Whereas Reverend Addie Wyatt, a Black woman who became
the international vice president of the United Food and
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•HRES 181 IH
Commercial Workers in 1976, advocated for women and
minority workers within her labor union;
Whereas labor also includes the work of local activists to
build relationships within their community, such as with-
in churches, social clubs, and other organizations;
Whereas Melnea Cass, also known as the ‘‘First Lady of
Roxbury’’, was an activist who helped workers in the
Boston community by providing labor rights education,
professional training, and social services, including a pro-
gram to provide childcare for working mothers;
Whereas, in 1990, Hattie Canty became the first Black
woman elected as the president of the Culinary Workers
Union (CWU), during which time she founded the Cul-
inary Training Academy to give people of color more op-
portunities within the hospitality industry;
Whereas Chris Smalls is the founder and president of the
Amazon Labor Union (ALU), who successfully unionized
an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, the first Amazon
union in United States history;
Whereas, today, the legacy of Black labor is still beset with
racial and gender economic disparities, which can be seen
in the wage gap as well as unemployment rates;
Whereas, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study,
the median Black worker makes $878 weekly compared
to $1,059 for all other United States workers;
Whereas, similarly, as of January 2025, Black men have a
6.3-percent unemployment rate compared to approxi-
mately 3 percent for White men and women;
Whereas the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick
Douglass inspired the creation of Negro History Week,
the precursor to Black History Month; and
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•HRES 181 IH
Whereas the month of February is officially celebrated as
Black History Month, which dates to 1926 when Dr.
Carter G. Woodson set aside the second week in Feb-
ruary as Negro History Week to recognize the heritage
and achievement of Black Americans: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, 1
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Original Black 3
History Month Resolution of 2025’’. 4
SEC. 2. SUPPORTING BLACK HISTORY MONTH. 5
The House of Representatives recognizes the impor-6
tance of commemorating Black History Month as it ac-7
knowledges the achievements of Black Americans through-8
out the Nation’s history and encourages the continuation 9
of its celebration to raise the awareness of this commu-10
nity’s accomplishments for all Americans. 11
Æ
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