BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION SPEECH
To my brothers, friends, and quest: We have gathered here today to celebrate a unique history; A history of struggle, yet of triumph; A history of pain, yet of perseverance. A history of a people, who even during their darkest hours, somehow retained, the belief, the faith, that all hope was not loss. Black History in all of its dimensions is a celebration of our heroes and well as our heroines, a celebration of the sung, as well as the unsung.
For every Paul Robison, Ida B. Wells, W.E D, Dubois, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King that we celebrate, there yet remain others, whose courage and sometimes quiet strength history has failed to note.
In the same breathe that we celebrate Hannibal as he marched across the Alps and Ali as he danced across the ring, the soaring oratory of Barbara Jordan, the sense of purpose of Shirley Chisom, the pride and passion of Patrice Lumumba and Kwane Nkrumah, there yet remains others, others of whom no day has been set aside for or statue erected in their honor, others whose name you will not find in any history book.
So, today we celebrate and remember those that endured the vicious blows of Billy Clubs, the ripping bites of rabbi’s dogs and the crippling impact of high powered water holes. Those that endured the cruelty of the Middle Passage, and those that choose not to, choosing death before dishonor and making their graves in the icy waters of the Pacific. Each of them, collectively and individually are a part of this day of celebration.
Today we have come here to commemorate, to celebrate and honor, the tortured souls of the countless strong Black woman, who gave birth to their children in the Cotton fields of the South ort the Cane fields of Jamaica, and in the same breathe demonstrated the intestinal fortitude to continue to hold together their families. We have gathered here today to remember, commemorate and honor them.
We have gathered here today to honor a man named Marcus, with a vision, a man named Muhammad with a message and a man named Martin, with a dream. Each one of them in our collective history are o this day celebrated, honored and remember. For each one of them, were Drum Majors in the march called Black History.
Miles Davis, Wynston Marcellus, Jesse Owens, Carlos Smith, Jack Johnson, Sugar ray Robinson, Arthur Ashe, Serena Wiliams, Althea Gibson, Venus Williams, Thurgood Marshall, and Johnny Cochran, Black History Marches on !
A boy king named Tut and a queen named Sheba. Chaka Zulu, Tousaint Overture, Jeane Desaline, and Henry Christopher, Black History Marches on! From Southern Sudan, to South Central, from the slums of Soweto to the suburbs of Atlanta, the drum beat of Black History marches on! From a onetime community organizer, who with the Dreams of his Father, found the Audacity of Hope, to the presidency of the United States, Black history marches on!
Black history, that breathing, living, self perpetuating cultural experience, it marches on. Black History, pregnant with the passions of our forefathers and the promise of our youth, moving forward. Unfettered, unafraid, battered, but never beaten, hobbled but never halted, bloodied but unbowed. It marches on.
Against the headwinds of adversity, Katrian and the Klan, bullets and bayonets, still it marches on. For, it matter not how straight the gate, how charred with punishment the scroll, we have been the captains of our fate, we have been the masters of our soul. BLACK HISTORY MARCHES ON!
