EMBASSY EVENTS 2009
February - Black History Month
9 February 2009
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W.E.B. DuBois. MalcolmX. |
Throughout February, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw joins America in celebrating Black History Month. We will honor 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. “Those brave men and women who led the civil rights struggle in America can be an inspiration to people across the world now and in the future,” said U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe. “Despite numerous barriers, they were determined to win the fight for basic rights and freedoms others took for granted; they deserve the highest praise.” The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw cordially invites Polish and American citizens to attend a documentary series devoted to prominent African-Americans including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Muhammad Ali. The screenings will take place at the historic Ujazdowski Castle, Center for Contemporary Art Kino Lab on February 21-22. The grand finale will feature “the uniquely American story of one man rising up to fight for what he believes,” a film biography of President Barack Obama. Click here to view the program of the series.
Throughout the years, African-Americans made significant contributions to American culture and education, helping to shape the image of contemporary America with music, writing, performing and visual arts, and major achievements in sports. Today, it would be hard to imagine the United States without the influence of such prominent African-Americans like George Washington Carver, Frederick Douglass, Miles Davis, Toni Morrison, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, or Serena Williams.
The January 20 inauguration of Barack Obama, America’s first African-American President, lends Black History Month a special significance this year. President Barack Obama took the oath of office January 20, the day after Americans honored the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday and national day of service. The late civil rights leader would have turned 80 on January 15. In his inaugural address, President Obama acknowledged the historical importance of a moment in which “a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), the 1964 Nobel Peace laureate is the individual most associated with the triumphs of the African-American civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. As a political organizer, supremely skilled orator and advocate of nonviolent protest, King was pivotal in persuading his fellow Americans to end the legal segregation that prevailed throughout the South and parts of other regions, and in sparking support for the civil rights legislation that established the legal framework for racial equality in the United States. Free at Last, a book on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement provides a full account of African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights.
Online Reading and Resources:
African-American History, Arts and Culture
African-American Writers
Library of Congress
National Museum of African American History and Culture
America.gov on Black History Month
Multicultural Literature in the United States Today
