February 21, 2018 The Skanner BLACK HISTORY EDITION Page 3
Black History
Bill to Celebrate 400 Years of Black History Passes U.S. House
Rep. Bobby Scott said that African Americans have contributed greatly to the United States and their
achievements deserve to be celebrated. This photo was taken during a forum on criminal justice reform
in Northwest Washington, D.C. in July 2015. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
By Lauren Victoria
Burke (NNPA Newswire
Contributor)
n a rare display of
bipartisanship
in
Congress, the United
States House of Rep-
resentatives voted to es-
tablish a commission to
examine 400 years of Af-
rican American history.
House bill H.R. 1242
is designed “to develop
and carry out activities
throughout the United
States to commemorate
the 400th anniversary
I
Va.) sponsored the
bill in the Senate,
Lauren
where it’s waiting
Victoria
to be passed.
Burke
According
to
Washington
insid-
NNPA
ers, the bill will
Columnist
most likely pass by
unanimous consent
in
the
Senate.
of the arrival of Africans
Once
the
bill known as
in the English colonies at
the
“400
Years
of Afri-
Point Comfort, Virginia,
can-American
History
in 1619.”
Commission
Act,”
or H.R.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-
1242
in
the
House,
pass-
Va.) sponsored the bill
es
Congress,
it
will
land
in the House and Sena-
tors Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on President Donald
and Mark Warner (D- Trump’s desk.
Activism cont’d from pg 2
in the United States. At
its peak, the organiza-
tion attracted an estimat-
ed 300,000 supporters in
Chicago and across the
country.
In 1933, Gordon initi-
ated a nationwide emi-
gration campaign, uti-
lizing her widespread
political networks in
Chicago and across the
Midwest. With the as-
sistance of other black
nationalist activists, she
collected signatures for a
pro-emigration petition.
In August of that year,
she mailed the petition
to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt with approx-
imately 400,000 signa-
tures of black Americans
willing to leave the coun-
try. Drawing inspiration
from FDR’s New Deal
programs, Gordon re-
quested federal support
for those who desired to
relocate to West Africa
in hopes of securing a
better life.
Gordon’s attempt to
secure federal support
failed. Yet she drew an
even larger following
of supporters who were
inspired by her bold
move. Many of these new
members were women.
Black women found in
her organization a space
of empowerment and
opportunity. They occu-
pied a number of visible
leadership roles, work-
ing alongside the organi-
zation’s female founder.
Celia Jane Allen, a
Black woman from Mis-
sissippi who had relocat-
ed to Chicago, was one
of these women. In the
mid-1930s, she became
an active member of the
Peace Movement of Ethi-
opia. Embracing Gor-
don’s vision for unifying
Black people in the U.S.
and abroad, Allen took
on a leadership role in
the organization. In 1937,
she became one of the na-
tional organizers. From
the late 1930s to the mid-
1940s, Allen traveled
extensively throughout
the South, visiting local
homes and churches to
recruit new members
and advocate the reloca-
tion to West Africa. By
the end of World War II,
she was successful in get-
ting thousands of black
Hear about it first.
Sign up for
Breaking News
and Events at
If H.R. 1242 becomes
law, the resulting com-
mission would consist of
15 members, who would
serve without pay. The
legislation would autho-
rize the commission to
create grants to commu-
nities, nonprofits and
other groups to hold
events that would com-
memorate the anniver-
sary of slaves arriving
in the U.S. The commis-
sion could hire staff and
also accept volunteers to
perform its mission. The
commission would be re-
quired to submit a report
to Congress and termi-
nate in July of 2020.
In a statement about
the bill last year, Kaine
said that he’s been lucky
to be a part of federal
commissions that have
been formed to study
and celebrate English
and Hispanic history.
“Well, if English lives
matter, if Latino lives
matter, then African
American lives matter
and they’ve mattered ev-
ery day since the landing
of those ‘20 and odd’ Af-
rican Americans at Point
Comfort, Virginia,” said
Kaine.
Kaine continued: “The
story has a lot of pain to
it, but it’s a story that has
to be told to commemo-
rate that we as a nation
— had it not been for 400
years of African Ameri-
can history — would be
absolutely unrecogniz-
able. What we hope to do
with this bill is engage in
something we should do
to tell the story in a dif-
ferent way than it may
have been told 50 to 100
years ago.”
In late March, the Con-
gressional Budget Office
estimated, “that imple-
menting the bill would
cost about $2 million a
year—a total of $6 mil-
lion over the 2018-2021
period.”
In a floor statement
about the bill last sum-
mer, Rep. Bobby Scott
said that African Amer-
icans have contributed
greatly to the United
States and their achieve-
ments deserve to be cele-
brated.
“The history of Virgin-
ia and our nation can-
not be fully understood
without recognizing the
role played by the slave
trade,” said Scott. “Slav-
ery was an abhorrent
institution; but for hun-
dreds of years, it was the
foundation of the colo-
nial and early American
agricultural system and
was essential to its eco-
nomic sustainability.”
Scott
continued:
“The 400 Years of Afri-
can-American History
Commission Act will be
instrumental in recog-
nizing and highlighting
the resilience and contri-
butions of African Amer-
icans since 1619. From
slavery, to fighting in the
Civil War, to working
against the oppression
of Jim Crow segregation,
to the civil rights move-
ment, the rich history of
African Americans and
their contributions to
our Nation began hun-
dreds of years ago but
obviously does not end
there.”
Lauren Victoria Burke
is a speaker, writer and
political analyst. She ap-
pears on “NewsOne Now”
with Roland Martin every
Monday. Lauren is also
a frequent contributor to
the NNPA Newswire and
BlackPressUSA.com. Con-
nect with Lauren by email
at
LBurke007@gmail.
com and on Twitter at @
LVBurke.
Information is powerful.
southerners to join the
movement and embrace
black nationalist ideas.
Today, these women’s
stories are largely absent
in popular accounts of
Black nationalism. More
often than not, the as-
sumption is that men ex-
clusively established and
led Black nationalist or-
ganizations. This could
not be farther from the
truth. As these few ex-
amples reveal, women
were key players in Black
nationalist movements,
and their efforts helped
to keep Black nationalist
ideas alive in U.S. poli-
tics. No history of Black
nationalism is complete
without acknowledging
women’s significant con-
tributions.
The power is
in your hands.
This article was origi-
nally published on The
Conversation, an inde-
pendent and nonprofit
source of news, analysis
and commentary from ac-
ademic experts.
NEWS
www.TheSkanner.com
TheSkannerNews
@TheSkannerNews