After 400 years, I shudder to think what America would be like had it not been for the achievements and contributions of black Americans in the making of our great nation. For all of 2019, throughout the United States and in conjunction with the founders of Black History Month, America will get to commemorate and celebrate the 400th anniversary of Africans being brought to the Virginia Colony in 1619.
The idea of having a 400th anniversary commemoration was the brain child of Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott who drafted the bill to celebrate 400 years of Black History. In generating support for the measure, Rep. Scott argued, “African Americans have contributed greatly to the United States and their achievements deserve to be celebrated.” Resulting from Rep. Scott’s efforts was Public Law No: 115-102 which was passed by Congress on January 8, 2018 with bipartisan support, in the last year of the 115th Congress.
Designed to “develop and carry out activities throughout the United States to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619,” the Act established a federal commission tasked with coordinating the yearlong activities across America. In expressing his support for the bill, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine expounded, “The story has a lot of pain to it, but it’s a story that has to be told to commemorate that we as a nation—had it not been for 400 years of African American history—would be absolutely unrecognizable.”
In his own words, Rep. Bobby Scott concluded, “The 400 years of African-American History Commission Act will be instrumental in recognizing and highlighting the resilience and contributions of African Americans since 1619. From slavery, to fighting in the Civil War, to working against the oppression of Jim Crow segregation, to the civil rights movement, the rich history of African Americans and their contributions to our Nation began hundreds of years ago but obviously does not end there.” Throughout this historical journey over the last 400 years, a constant theme has been the triumph of the human spirit and the perennial struggle for human dignity and equality.
Now, on the local scene, I do encourage you to be about the business of commemorating, educating and celebrating the 400 years of black history throughout Sampson County. And on that note, I would like to invite you to a special event sponsored by the Sampson County Branch of the NAACP, hosted by the historic First Baptist Church, 900 College St., Clinton. At 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 25, there will be a Pastor Round Table and Community Conversation dealing with “The Role of the Black Church in Fulfilling the Unfinished Work of the Freedom Movement.”
As we celebrate the contributions and achievements of blacks since 1619, let’s remember that no one worked harder to educate the nation and the world on black history and culture than Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History.