Speeches

Remarks by Chargé d’Affaires Virginia Blaser
at the Launching of Black History Month Activities 2009
Talk on: "Barack Obama: Audacity of Hope for Minorities"

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
U.S. Embassy

Good afternoon:

Thank you all for joining us this afternoon as the U.S. Embassy launches its activities for Black History Month 2009.

Each February, Black History Month honors the struggles and triumphs of millions of American citizens over the most devastating obstacles -- slavery, prejudice, poverty – as well as their contributions to the nation’s cultural and political life.

This year’s African-American History Month is particularly special as we are commemorating the historic presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States of America, the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the centennial of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

2009 marks the 83rd annual celebration since Carter G. Woodson, a noted American scholar and historian, instituted Negro History Week in 1926.  He chose the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial.  President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Since 1926, The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) designates the annual theme for U.S. Black History Month.  The National Theme for the celebration this year is “Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas”. 

This year the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, better known as the NAACP, celebrates 100 years fighting to level the playing field so that all Americans may have equal access to first-class citizenship.

2009 will be recorded in history as the year the first African American became President of the United States. The Road to the Capital was not paved over night.  Black History Month is also the time when we remember those people who paved the way- people like Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
With grace and determination, African American men and women have shaped the United States and influenced American life.  And what better way to pay tribute to the African-American history this afternoon than with the program you are about to participate in, that is a talk on: "Barack Obama: Audacity of Hope for Minorities."

As Americans, we are proud of the progress we have made in the United States, yet the work for a more perfect union is not done. 

Thank you.