African American History Month Film Program (19 Feb 09)

Honorable Ministers, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, international and nongovernmental organizations, ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

Since Carter G. Woodson first sought to bring to public attention the African American experience in 1926 by encouraging scholarly investigation of Black history, Americans have focused on that history each February, which has come to be known as African American History Month, although, in fact the importance African Americans’ roles in history continues to be emphasized year round in the United States and in the world. African American contributions to the United States include some of the most profoundly “American” events, art forms, and accomplishments – the first heart transplant and the use of plasma, jazz, the first patented traffic light, the design of our Capital City, and some of our most beautiful literature, among others. 

As you all know, Barack Obama is our first African American President; he brings with him a global background and interest in the progress of all people. The strides our nation is taking toward equality for everyone is truly remarkable.

This year's African-American History Month theme, "The Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas," gives us a sense that the contributions of people of African descent have shaped the course of history not only in the United States of America, but beyond our borders as well.  In fact, the very roots of civilization can be traced to Africa.  History has often overlooked that fact -- especially maligned have been the African heroines of the ancient world.

As we all know, the earliest human beings lived right here in Africa.  One of the first great civilizations, the kingdom of Egypt, was ruled by Hatshepsut, a woman, for twenty two years in the late 1400s B.C.E.  Though most Egyptian pharaohs were men, Hatshepsut is widely regarded as one of the most successful pharaohs in Ancient Egypt.  She established vast networks of trade, dramatically increasing Egyptian wealth.  She sent an expedition to the land of Punt, probably located in modern Somalia, which resulted, among other things, in the first recorded attempt to transplant trees – frankincense trees that were later planted in her mortuary temple complex.  

Hatshepsut led successful military campaigns in Nubia, the Levant, and Syria, and was also one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific builders.  Over 1,000 years later, Egypt was led by a more widely noted woman, Cleopatra, likely of Greek origin, who not only ruled a great kingdom of her own, but forged a union with the Roman Empire.

The Queen of Sheba is often referred to as the founder of the Ethiopian dynasty of Menelik, but Ethiopia has a long tradition of powerful queens.  Candace was renowned as a military tactician, whose prowess was responsible for Alexander the Great’s decision to refrain from attacking the Ethiopian capital at Meroe.  Stories of great women leaders are scattered throughout African history, and I urge you to instill their legacies in the minds of the young women who will lead this country into the future.

Countries in the Western Hemisphere, like Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico also have signs in their cultures – music, art, even cuisine – that African immigrants played a significant role in the development of their societies.  Leaders like Simon Bolivar trace their roots back to Africa.  Many great scholars are well known to be of African origin, but some origins are lesser known.  

The famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin had an ancestor from Africa, the grandmother of Alexandre Dumas, the author of such masterpieces of French literature as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers was an Afro-Cuban woman from Haiti.

In the 20th century, leaders in the United States and around the world celebrated their African roots.  Ida B. Wells-Barnett fought for civil rights and women’s rights at a time when those two movements often clashed.  She was one of the few African American women who also played a leading role the suffragist movement.  Cheikh Anta Diop, Joel Augustus Rogers, and Chancellor Williams stood at the forefront of the quest to raise awareness of our history, researching, teaching, and writing about the important contributions of Africans to global civilizations.

It is with this backdrop of ancient and modern African leaders that we step forward into African American History Month.  Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Director of the DuBois Center at Harvard University, has done a great service in broadening our vision of the influence of people of African origin.  

The film African American Lives, which we will view today, traces the roots of many notable and ordinary Americans of African descent.  In each of their stories, we can find common threads with our own lives upon which to build the partnerships of tomorrow.

As we look to the future, we note that President Obama’s life has criss-crossed the globe, as many of you know.  We believe that his international experiences will inform our international relations, moving us beyond divisions of race, class, and national origin to work together not only toward a more perfect union, but toward a more perfect world.

Thank you.