00                         SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 3                                                                        
01 Proclaiming February 2017 as Black History Month.                                                                       
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE:                                                                                           
03       WHEREAS, in 1926, a week honoring black history was first established by Dr.                                  
04 Carter G. Woodson to coincide with the birth week shared by President Abraham Lincoln and                               
05 abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass; and                                                                             
06       WHEREAS Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated, "We have a wonderful history behind us .                                  
07 . . If you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say                         
08 to you, 'You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy'"; and                                                  
09       WHEREAS, in 1976, in honor of the nation's bicentennial, President Gerald R. Ford                               
10 expanded the celebration of Black History Week to Black History Month; and                                              
11       WHEREAS African Americans are woven into the fabric of this nation and contribute                               
12 to the attributes that make the nation strong and just, despite the nation's history of their                           
13 enslavement and unjust treatment; and                                                                                   
14 WHEREAS the contributions African Americans have made to building the State of                                        
15 Alaska--from the hundreds of members of Company L, 24th Infantry, United States Army,                                   
16 who were stationed at Dyea and Skagway during the Gold Rush, to the engineers who carved                                

01 the Alaska-Canada (ALCAN) Highway through remote and desolate land--often go                                            
02 unrecognized; and                                                                                                       
03       WHEREAS Americans from all walks of life continue hopefully and confidently to                                  
04 strive to achieve a more perfect and equitable union, even when we fall short;                                          
05       BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate proclaims February 2017 as Black History                                         
06 Month.