Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued a proclamation Thursday declaring February 2015 as Black History Month in the State of California.

The text of the proclamation is below:

African-Americans have played a central role in our nation’s history, but for too long historians ignored or glossed over their contributions and the injustices they have suffered. The origins of Black History Month can be traced to the scholar Carter G. Woodson, who in 1926 conceived a yearly celebration to help rectify the omission of African-Americans from history books. Today, the observance of Black History Month throughout the United States stands as testament to the success of Woodson’s project and an example of how we can work together to make the teaching of history more honest.

The theme of Black History Month 2015 is “A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture.” This year marks the hundredth anniversary of Woodson’s founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an important milestone in our scholarly journey from ignorance and prejudice to a correct understanding of the historic significance of African-American lives and contributions. We celebrate the work of scholars like Woodson’s friend Jesse Moorland, co-founder of the association and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, Margaret Burroughs, who first envisioned the museums of black history that now exist in cities and towns throughout our nation, and many others whose work helped African-Americans secure their rightful place, not on the margins, but at the very center of American history.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim February 2015, as “Black History Month.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 3rd day of February 2015.

EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California