On the recordFebruary 7, 2011
to commemorate February 2011 as Black History Month, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of African Americans to the cultural, technological, and social evolution of our Nation and American democracy. Each year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History sponsors Black History Month in February because two great men of historical significance were born in this month: Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, and Frederick Douglass, a noted Black social reformer and abolitionist. Their actions greatly forwarded the cause of equality for all African Americans. Given the association has chosen ``African Americans and the Civil War'' as their 2011 theme, it seems fitting to briefly contemplate initiatives of these two reformers who are from that era. President Lincoln is forever linked to the momentous Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 which 3.1 million slaves living in States that were in rebellion against the Union were declared ``forever free'' and also allowed to join the military. The year before, Mr. Lincoln abetted the cause of freedom by forbidding Army officers from returning fugitive slaves and signed a law declaring the Federal Government would compensate slave owners who freed their slaves. Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and became a leader of the abolitionist movement. He was a great orator and writer and after the war he was involved in Reconstruction efforts.
