State of ^fcrtli Carolina
PAT McCRORY
GOVERNOR
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
2016
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, the national theme for Black History Month is "Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories”; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Carter G. Woodson is the father of Black History and Black History Month originated from “Negro History Week”
established in 1926 by Dr. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and is now celebrated through the
entire month of February; and
WHEREAS, a relentless pursuit of freedom and patriotism has enriched African American communities, the State of North Carolina and
the nation at large; and
WHEREAS, Historic Stagville in Durham and Somerset Place in Creswell are State Historic Sites that acknowledge and educate on the
themes of African American enslavement; and
WHEREAS, the thirst for freedom led to freedom roads of the underground railroad through Guilford County. Halifax County,
Wilmington. Edenton and New Bern, and other sites of resistance to slavery, and
WHEREAS, African Americans from North Carolina have made significant contributions to American arts, science, and industry', such as
Thomas Day of Milton, a free black craftsman whose artistry, popularity, and innovations in mass production techniques established him as an early
founder of the Southern ftimiture manufacturing industry; and
WHEREAS, the thirst for knowledge among newly liberated African Americans led to the establishment of the Palmer Memorial Institute
in Sedalia, now Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site; as well as more Rosenwald schools for freedmen in North Carolina than any other
state; and also gave rise to the creation of the state’s eleven Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the most four-year HBCU’s of any state in
America; and
WHEREAS, folk artist Minnie Evans, who reflected the beauty of floral visions inspired in Wilmington; Charlotte-bom Harlem
Renaissance painter Romare Bearden, who combined classic European, African sculptural and Asian print styles; and John Biggers, from Gastonia, a
master teacher and painter of murals based on African themes; each captured the imagination of thousands with their creativity; and
WHEREAS, jazz artists Thelonious Monk of Rocky Mount, John Coltrane of Hamlet, and Nina Simone of Tryon, each made a singular
mark to the world in "America’s classical music,” jazz; and
WHEREAS, the African American entrepreneurial spirit shone from the earliest days of freedom, as through Parker Robbins of Bertie
County, a Union soldier in the Civil War, legislator, inventor, owner of a sawmill and cotton gin and builder of a steamboat and houses, further
demonstrated by Black Wall Street and continuing today; and
WHEREAS, African Americans have contributed and continue to contribute significantly to every aspect of life in North Carolina and
across our nation;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, PAT McCRORY, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim February 2016, as
“BLACK HISTORY MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in
Raleigh this twenty-sixth day of January in the year of our Lord two thousand and sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the two hundred and fortieth.
PAT McCRORY
Governor