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Special recognition celebrating February 2024 as Black History Month.
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SPECIAL RECOGNITION
WHEREAS, Africans were brought involuntarily to the United States as early as the 17th century; and
WHEREAS, slave labor created much of the wealth that has allowed this nation to thrive since its founding and for generations, in the South and the North; and
WHEREAS, African Americans suffered enslavement, then faced the continued injustices of lynch mobs, segregation, and denial of basic and fundamental rights of citizenship; and
WHEREAS, even in 2024, the vestiges of the injustices and inequalities remain evident in our society; and
WHEREAS, African Americans, such as Lieutenant Colonel Allen Allensworth, Maya Angelou, Arthur Ashe, Jr., James Baldwin, James Beckwourth, Clara Brown, Blanche Bruce, Ralph Bunche, Shirley Chisholm, Holt Collier, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Larry Doby, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Medgar Evers, Aretha Franklin, Alex Haley, Dorothy Height, Jon Hendricks, Olivia Hooker, Lena Horne, Charles Hamilton Houston, Mahalia Jackson, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, B.B. King, Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Rosa Parks, Walter Payton, Bill Pickett, Homer Plessy, Bass Reeves, Hiram Revels, Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Aaron Shirley, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, the Greensboro Four, the Tuskegee Airmen, Prince Rogers Nelson, Recy Taylor, Fred Shuttlesworth, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Muhammad Ali, Elijah Cummings, Ella Fitzgerald, Mamie Till, Edith Savage-Jennings, Toni Morrison, Gwen Ifill, and Diahann Carroll, along with many others, worked through oppression to achieve success and make significant contributions to the economic, educational, political, artistic, athletic, literary, scientific, and technological advancement of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the contributions of African Americans from all walks of life throughout our country’s history reflect the greatness of the United States; and
WHEREAS, many African Americans lived, toiled, and died in obscurity, never achieving the recognition they deserved for their accomplishments, and yet they paved the way for future generations to succeed; and
WHEREAS, African Americans continue to serve the United States at the highest levels of business, government, and the military; and
WHEREAS, Black History Month, celebrated every February, originated in 1926 to recognize the heritage, culture, and achievements of Black people in the United States. It is an important opportunity to commemorate their tremendous contributions.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RECOGNIZED, that this County Board of Lake County, Illinois acknowledges the importance of Black History Month as an opportunity to learn and understand the experiences that have shaped our country, reflect on the complex history of the United States, while remaining hopeful and confident about the path ahead.
DATED at Waukegan, Illinois, on February 20, 2024.