|Home > News & Policies > Proclamation Archives| For Immediate
Release Office of the Press Secretary February 2, 2002 National
African American History Month, 2002 A Proclamation by the
President of the United States of America During these
extraordinary times, America looks forward to new challenges and
opportunities with a reinvigorated sense of unity and common
purpose. We are a strong and vibrant Nation, thanks to the
creativity, fortitude, and resilience of people of every race
and background. During National African American History Month,
we celebrate the many achievements and contributions made by
African Americans to our economic, cultural, spiritual, and
political development. In 1915, Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson
founded The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
Through that Association, he began pressing for the
establishment of Negro History Week as a way to bring national
attention to the accomplishments of African Americans. He hoped
to neutralize the apparent distortions in Black h