Ambassador Perry's Speeches

Black History Month Frederick Douglass Program (27 Feb 09)

Honorable Ministers, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, international and nongovernmental organizations, ladies and gentlemen, welcome.  It is often said, there are many ethnicities, but only one race – the human race.  And, as we all know, the first members of the human race were Africans.
 
African American contributions to U.S. history include some of the most profoundly “American” events, art forms, and accomplishments.  The first heart transplant was performed by Dr. James Hardy in Mississippi.  Dr. Charles Drew pioneered the use of plasma in blood transfusions, saving thousands of lives during World War II.  The first patented traffic light was designed by Garrett Morgan in Cleveland, Ohio.  Our Capital City, Washington, D.C., was built on land secured by Benjamin Banneker, an African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer.  Some of our most beautiful literature was written by African Americans, including Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, who has said she traces her roots to the Mende tribe. 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 are 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 forgotten 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, which not only ruled a great kingdom of her own, but forged a union with the Roman Empire.

The Queen of Sheba is referred to as the founder of the Menelik dynasty, but Ethiopia has a long tradition of powerful queens.  Candace was renowned as a military tactician, who was responsible for Alexander the Great’s decision not to attack 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 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 have lesser known origins.  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 modern history, African American leaders in the United States and around the world celebrated their African roots.  Anna Julia Haywood Cooper wrote Voice from the South: By A Woman from the South in 1892, which was viewed as one of the first articulations of Black Feminism.  Later, Ida B. Wells-Barnett fought for civil rights and women’s suffrage at a time when those two movements often clashed. 

In historical scholarship, 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 through his “African –American Lives” television series and his completion of the “Encyclopedia Africana,” began by Dr. W.E.B. Dubois nearly century ago. 

Since historian 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.  However, in fact, the importance of African Americans’ roles in history continues to be emphasized year round in the United States and in the world. Yet, Woodson’s establishment of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History was a milestone in American history writ large.  

Woodson’s vision was an important part of my young life.  And, especially important were my first memories of reading DuBois’s magazine, “The Crisis” and my grandfather’s speeches on Frederick Douglass.  This great man, about whom you have heard much today, was called a “Jewel of a Man” by my grandfather who was summoned by the NAACP, the National Alliance of Postal Workers and the Knights of Columbus to give substantive speeches on one of Americas greatest orators.  Despite the Harvard Classics, the complete works of Shakespeare and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, it was Frederick Douglass’s Autobiography that held the place of pride in our library at our homes in Texas and in Chicago. 

His influence was so great that one of my uncles, a Tuskegee Airman, was named after him and my older son bears Douglass as his middle name.  Although Frederick Douglass’s family lived in Texas where I spent my early years, we do not know of any blood kinship.  Yet, I am proud to share his philosophy and am privileged to count his descendents among my colleagues and friends. 

We even here at the United States Embassy have Mr. William Douglass, who is a great nephew of Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist, suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer.  As you have heard Douglass was well known for his many achievements.  In 1872, Douglass was the first African-American nominated to be Vice President of the United States. He was a firm believer in the equality of all people, and we are indeed fortunate to have this opportunity to hear about his life from a member of his family.

As we look to the future, we note that President Obama’s life symbolizes unity.  He personified our oneness, from his father’s roots in Kenya, and his mother’s in Kansas, to his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, then finally to his political life in the great cities of Chicago and Washington, D.C. 

We believe that his own “world without borders” will inform our international relations, moving us beyond divisions of race, class, and national origin to achieve together not only toward a “more perfect union,” but a more perfect world.

Thank you for joining us today in a celebration of greatness and in recognition of tomorrow’s leaders, the young Sierra Leoneans writers and students who honor us with their presence today.

Thank you.