Black History Is American History Affirmation
Leaders and Stakeholders in Education, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Free Expression, and Democracy
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From the National Museum of African American History and Culture to your local library, we must galvanize the country to understand that “Hands Off Our History” is vital to the broader movement to protect our lives and save our government.
Organizing in defense of the Smithsonian, especially the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is not just an important symbolic gesture. It is at the heart of the fight for democracy itself.
Now is the time to show the public that we must stand up for civil rights, for the accurate accounting of history, for our books, our voices and our lives.
The Freedom to Learn is the Freedom to Live.
Stand with the African American Policy Forum, the National Urban League, National Council of Negro Women, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Action Network, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Legal Defense Fund, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights as we call on leaders and all who stand for democracy, racial justice, and civil rights to affirm Black History is American History!
#HandsOffOurHistory!
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Leaders and Stakeholders in Education, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Free Expression, and Democracy
From:
[Your Name]
We affirm that Black history is American history, without which we cannot understand our country’s fight for freedom or secure a more democratic future. We must protect our history not just in books, schools, libraries, and universities, but also in museums, memorials, and remembrances that are sites of our national memory. The effort to erase Black voices, ideas, art and history is the effort to erase Black lives. Without Black history, we abandon our capacity to accurately assess the state of the republic or imagine a stronger one. Without Black history, we lose the important stories of resistance undertaken to defend our democracy and the tools we need to resist today. Without Black history, we forget how the civil rights movement created opportunities for other marginalized communities to secure equality and we limit our capacity to organize for justice now. Racial inequality remains real; if we are not able to understand it, tell its history, and honor those who have risked everything to solve it, then we lose our capacity to carry the legacy, brilliance and resilience of these freedom fighters in our lives and to future generations. Democracy is a constant struggle, and the erasure of our history prevents us from fighting to preserve it.
Affirmed by the following organizations (partial listing):
The African American Policy Forum
National Urban League
National Council of Negro Women
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
National Action Network
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Legal Defense Fund
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
MoveOn
Indivisible
EveryLibrary
Right to Learn Coalition
National Education Association (NEA)
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
Color of Change
American Library Association
AFGE
National Bar Association
Friendship-West Baptist Church
Phi Beta Sigma Inc.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Chesterfield Metro Area Section of the National Council of Negro Women. Inc.
YWCA of Southern Arizona
You may receive email updates from The African American Policy Forum and EveryLibrary, the sponsors of this petition.