Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SR99 Compare Versions

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11 III
22 119THCONGRESS
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44 STSESSION S. RES. 99
55 Celebrating Black History Month.
66 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
77 FEBRUARY26, 2025
88 Mr. B
99 OOKER(for himself, Mr. SCOTTof South Carolina, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr.
1010 C
1111 RAMER, Mr. COONS, Mr. WICKER, Mr. REED, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mrs. SHA-
1212 HEEN, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. TILLIS, Ms.
1313 D
1414 UCKWORTH, Mrs. BRITT, Ms. BLUNTROCHESTER, Mr. CORNYN, Mr.
1515 H
1616 EINRICH, Mr. MORAN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. LUJA´N,
1717 Mr. K
1818 ING, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr.
1919 D
2020 URBIN, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. PADILLA,
2121 Mr. H
2222 ICKENLOOPER, Mr. BENNET, Mr. OSSOFF, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms.
2323 B
2424 ALDWIN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. WARNER, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr.
2525 W
2626 YDEN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. PETERS, and Ms. ALSOBROOKS) submitted
2727 the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to
2828 RESOLUTION
2929 Celebrating Black History Month.
3030 Whereas, in 1776, people envisioned the United States as a
3131 new nation dedicated to the proposition stated in the
3232 Declaration of Independence that ‘‘all men are created
3333 equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer-
3434 tain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Lib-
3535 erty and the pursuit of Happiness’’;
3636 Whereas Africans were first brought involuntarily to the
3737 shores of the United States as early as the 17th century;
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4141 Whereas African Americans suffered enslavement and subse-
4242 quently faced the injustices of lynch mobs, segregation,
4343 and denial of the basic and fundamental rights of citizen-
4444 ship;
4545 Whereas, in 2025, the vestiges of those injustices and in-
4646 equalities remain evident in the society of the United
4747 States;
4848 Whereas, in the face of injustices, people of good will and of
4949 all races in the United States have distinguished them-
5050 selves with a commitment to the noble ideals on which
5151 the United States was founded and have fought coura-
5252 geously for the rights and freedom of African Americans
5353 and others;
5454 Whereas African Americans, such as Lieutenant Colonel
5555 Allen Allensworth, Maya Angelou, Arthur Ashe, Jr.,
5656 James Baldwin, James Beckwourth, Clara Brown,
5757 Blanche Bruce, Ralph Bunche, Shirley Chisholm, Holt
5858 Collier, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Larry Doby,
5959 Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison,
6060 Medgar Evers, Aretha Franklin, Alex Haley, Dorothy
6161 Height, Jon Hendricks, Olivia Hooker, Lena Horne,
6262 Charles Hamilton Houston, Mahalia Jackson, Stephanie
6363 Tubbs Jones, B.B. King, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6464 Coretta Scott King, Thurgood Marshall, Constance
6565 Baker Motley, Rosa Parks, Walter Payton, Bill Pickett,
6666 Homer Plessy, Bass Reeves, Hiram Revels, Amelia Platts
6767 Boynton Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Aaron Shirley, So-
6868 journer Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington,
6969 the Greensboro Four, the Tuskegee Airmen, Prince Rog-
7070 ers Nelson, Recy Taylor, Fred Shuttlesworth, Duke
7171 Ellington, Langston Hughes, Muhammad Ali, Elijah
7272 Cummings, Ella Fitzgerald, Mamie Till, Toni Morrison,
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7676 Gwen Ifill, Diahann Carroll, Chadwick Boseman, John
7777 Lewis, Katherine Johnson, Rev. C.T. Vivian, Hank
7878 Aaron, Edith Savage-Jennings, Septima Clark, Mary
7979 Mcleod Bethune, Cicely Tyson, John Hope Franklin,
8080 Colin Powell, bell hooks, Bob Moses, Sidney Poitier, Bill
8181 Russell, Chief Justice of South Carolina Ernest Finney,
8282 Willie Mays, Jr., and James Earl Jones, along with many
8383 others, worked against racism to achieve success and to
8484 make significant contributions to the economic, edu-
8585 cational, political, artistic, athletic, literary, scientific,
8686 and technological advancement of the United States;
8787 Whereas the contributions of African Americans from all
8888 walks of life throughout the history of the United States
8989 reflect the greatness of the United States;
9090 Whereas many African Americans lived, toiled, and died in
9191 obscurity, never achieving the recognition those individ-
9292 uals deserved, and yet paved the way for future genera-
9393 tions to succeed;
9494 Whereas African Americans continue to serve the United
9595 States at the highest levels of business, government, and
9696 the military;
9797 Whereas the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick
9898 Douglass inspired the creation of Negro History Week,
9999 the precursor to Black History Month;
100100 Whereas Negro History Week represented the culmination of
101101 the efforts of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the ‘‘Father of
102102 Black History’’, to enhance knowledge of Black history
103103 through The Journal of Negro History, published by the
104104 Association for the Study of African American Life and
105105 History, which was founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson
106106 and Jesse E. Moorland;
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110110 Whereas Black History Month, celebrated during the month
111111 of February, originated in 1926 when Dr. Carter G.
112112 Woodson set aside a special period in February to recog-
113113 nize the heritage and achievements of Black people in the
114114 United States;
115115 Whereas Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated, ‘‘We have a wonder-
116116 ful history behind us. . . . If you are unable to dem-
117117 onstrate to the world that you have this record, the world
118118 will say to you, ‘You are not worthy to enjoy the bless-
119119 ings of democracy or anything else.’’’;
120120 Whereas, since its founding, the United States has imper-
121121 fectly progressed toward noble goals;
122122 Whereas the history of the United States is the story of peo-
123123 ple regularly affirming high ideals, striving to reach those
124124 ideals but often failing, and then struggling to come to
125125 terms with the disappointment of that failure, before
126126 committing to try again;
127127 Whereas, on November 4, 2008, the people of the United
128128 States elected Barack Obama, an African-American man,
129129 as President of the United States; and
130130 Whereas, on February 22, 2012, people across the United
131131 States celebrated the groundbreaking of the National
132132 Museum of African American History and Culture, which
133133 opened to the public on September 24, 2016, on the Na-
134134 tional Mall in Washington, District of Columbia: Now,
135135 therefore, be it
136136 Resolved, That the Senate— 1
137137 (1) acknowledges that all people of the United 2
138138 States are the recipients of the wealth of history 3
139139 provided by Black culture; 4
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143143 (2) recognizes the importance of Black History 1
144144 Month as an opportunity to reflect on the complex 2
145145 history of the United States, while remaining hope-3
146146 ful and confident about the path ahead; 4
147147 (3) acknowledges the significance of Black His-5
148148 tory Month as an important opportunity to com-6
149149 memorate the tremendous contributions of African 7
150150 Americans to the history of the United States; 8
151151 (4) encourages the celebration of Black History 9
152152 Month to provide a continuing opportunity for all 10
153153 people in the United States to learn from the past 11
154154 and understand the experiences that have shaped the 12
155155 United States; and 13
156156 (5) agrees that, while the United States began 14
157157 as a divided country, the United States must— 15
158158 (A) honor the contribution of all pioneers 16
159159 in the United States who have helped to ensure 17
160160 the legacy of the great United States; and 18
161161 (B) move forward with purpose, united 19
162162 tirelessly as a nation ‘‘indivisible, with liberty 20
163163 and justice for all.’’. 21
164164 Æ
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