As Americans celebrate ‘Black History Month’ which is the story of resilience and perseverance by African Americans, Jasper Daniels has called on Sierra Leoneans not to limit the celebrations to Americans alone.
During a celebratory session between the Information Resources Center of the United States Embassy and Democracy Sierra Leone, Jasper Daniels Management Officer at the Embassy said that since 1962, the US Government has set aside this day to remember the different African Americans who risked their lives to change their country for the better.
He disclosed that the topic covers a wide range of issues, solutions and challenges and that all of the stories are unique but that they all have the same message.
On his background, the Management Officer said that his parents are not direct dissident of slaves but that his grandparents are and they used to tell him stories about the slave trade and how they were taken to America. He said that seeing Sierra Leone reminds him of a place in America where they used to take slaves “and this is not derogatory” he stressed.
Garnelle Dent GSO Property Manager at the United States Embassy and Jasper Daniels made presentations of certain African Americans who were the first in the lot during the civil rights activism like Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, Matthew, Alexandra Henson-Explorer, Mary Mcleod Bethun-educator, Charles Richard Drew- Physician, Thurgood Marshall-the first Black Supreme Court Justice who won the case of the separate but equal, Rosa Parks – Civil Rights Leader, Jackie Robinson- Baseball player, Martin Luther King Jr. – Civil Rights Leader, Oprah Winfrey Media Mogul and Barack Obama-President of the USA.
The President of USA Barack Obama in his proclamation said “this story traces a people who refused to accept the circumstances under which they arrived on these shores, and it chronicles the generations who fought for an American that truly reflects the ideas enshrined in our founding documents.”
He added that “it is the narrative of slaves who sheparded others along the path to freedom and preachers who organized against the rules of Jim Crow, of young people who sat – in at lunch counters and ordinary men and women who took risks to change our Nation for the better.”
This year’s theme ‘Black Women in American Culture and History’ the President said, invites all to pay special tributes to the role African American women have played in shaping the character of the nation “often in the face of both racial and gender discrimination…have long served as champions of social and political change. And from the literary giant who gave voice to their communities to the artists whose harmonies and brush strokes captured hardships and aspirations… in recognition of their legacy, let us honour their heroic and historic acts for years to come.”
President Obama said “the achievements of African American women are not limited to those recorded and retold in our history books. Their impact is felt in communities where they are quiet heroes who cared for their families in boardrooms where they leaders of industry, in laboratories and in classrooms where they are preparing the next generation for the world they will inherit.”
By Betty Milton
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