[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 6, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8347-8348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-02756]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 25 / Wednesday, February 6, 2013 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 8347]]
Proclamation 8930 of January 31, 2013
National African American History Month, 2013
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
In America, we share a dream that lies at the heart of
our founding: that no matter who you are, no matter
what you look like, no matter how modest your
beginnings or the circumstances of your birth, you can
make it if you try. Yet, for many and for much of our
Nation's history, that dream has gone unfulfilled. For
African Americans, it was a dream denied until 150
years ago, when a great emancipator called for the end
of slavery. It was a dream deferred less than 50 years
ago, when a preacher spoke of justice and brotherhood
from Lincoln's memorial. This dream of equality and
fairness has never come easily--but it has always been
sustained by the belief that in America, change is
possible.
Today, because of that hope, coupled with the hard and
painstaking labor of Americans sung and unsung, we live
in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is
within reach for people of every color and creed.
National African American History Month is a time to
tell those stories of freedom won and honor the
individuals who wrote them. We look back to the men and
women who helped raise the pillars of democracy, even
when the halls they built were not theirs to occupy. We
trace generations of African Americans, free and slave,
who risked everything to realize their God-given
rights. We listen to the echoes of speeches and
struggle that made our Nation stronger, and we hear
again the thousands who sat in, stood up, and called
out for equal treatment under the law. And we see
yesterday's visionaries in tomorrow's leaders,
reminding us that while we have yet to reach the
mountaintop, we cannot stop climbing.
Today, Dr. King, President Lincoln, and other shapers
of our American story proudly watch over our National
Mall. But as we memorialize their extraordinary acts in
statues and stone, let us not lose sight of the
enduring truth that they were citizens first. They
spoke and marched and toiled and bled shoulder-to-
shoulder with ordinary people who burned with the same
hope for a brighter day. That legacy is shared; that
spirit is American. And just as it guided us forward
150 years ago and 50 years ago, it guides us forward
today. So let us honor those who came before by
striving toward their example, and let us follow in
their footsteps toward the better future that is ours
to claim.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim February 2013 as
National African American History Month. I call upon
public officials, educators, librarians, and all the
people of the United States to observe this month with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
[[Page 8348]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2013-02756
Filed 2-5-13; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F3