TITLE
Title
RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT FOR THE "400 YEARS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY COMMISSION ACT"
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Commissioner Foster
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RESOLUTION
Resolution
Of Support for the “400 Years of African-American History Commission Act”
WHEREAS, Public Law 115-102 was signed January 8, 2018 to establish the “400 Years of African-American History Commission Act” to commemorate the arrival of Africans in the English Colonies in 1619; and
WHEREAS, the duties of the 400 Years of African-American History Commission are to recognize, highlight, and education the public on the resilience and contributions of African-Americans since 1619, acknowledge the impact of slavery and racially discriminatory laws on the United States, and encourage civic patriotic, historical, educational, artistic, religious, economic and other organizations to organize and participate in the Commemoration; and
WHEREAS, people of African descent in Guilford County were dehumanized, enslaved and deprived of their progeny, homeland, family, friends, inheritances, name, religious rituals, and cultural practices and were not treated as equals in every sphere of life for many generations; and
WHEREAS, for many years Guilford County’s residents have been at the forefront in making right those atrocities by fighting for and encouraging freedom, inclusion, growth and prosperity for all of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, the first route of the Underground Railroad, a network of trails and hiding places that led fleeing African-American slaves to the North, began in a cave near a creek on what is now the Guilford College campus. A slave from Guilford County, John Dimrey, was the first to follow the Underground Railroad to freedom in 1819; and
WHEREAS, in 1873 Bennet College, a college for African-American Women was established, followed shortly thereafter by the establishment and opening of the Agricultural and Mechanical College (Now North Carolina A&T University) in 1893; and
WHEREAS, in 1957...
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