Truth branch of asalah, usa today, and the law and policy group. We would also like to thank all of those people who make black history happen all year round. The year 2019 is special for many reasons, and we will explore those reasons in two parts. Part one will talk about the theme for black History Month this year, and that is black migrations. Our press event also includes a panel of scholars who enlightened this occasion with their expertise on the 400 years of africanamerican perseverance and resilience triggered from that arrival of 20 africans in 1619. But first, if we have her here, were looking for the president of the National Press club, Allison Fitzgerald cojack, who will come go get her who will come to give welcome in a few minutes. We are also honored to have the presence of dr. Lonnie g. Bunch iii, the founding director of the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture and also a centennial ray of light. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Bunch. Thank you for your ongoing support of asalah and your embrace of the legacy of our founder, dr. Carter godwin woodson. Each year the president of asalah discloses the selection of the theme for the study of black history globally. Black history is not just an american thing. Black history is a study that we have seen actually take place in the uk as well as parts of africa and other parts of the world. So what dr. Woodson started has become a global, global event. Dr. Higginbotham is the first africanamerican chair of the History Department at harvard. We are also proud to congratulate her for winning the dr. John hope franklin award. We just learned of this last night. She is a historian of historians. And to read her statement on this years black history theme, black migrations, i give you dr. Higginbotham. Thank you, and welcome. Every year i write a statement to inaugurate black History Month. This one starts off, happy black History Month. This year opens with the theme black migrations. As the founders of black History Month, the association for the study of africanAmerican Life and history believes that migration represents one of the most important aspects of our nations past. The very title of the book, a nation of immigrants written by president john f. Kennedy captures the centrality of migration to the makeup of the american people. However, for africanamericans, the history of migration has a unique meaning. That of forced migration in the form of the african slave trade to america, which ended by law, though not always in practice, in 1808, and the domestic human trafficking, what we call the domestic slave trade that continued until the abolition of slavery in 1865. These are stories of families separated, of children taken from parents, and such pain was overwhelming and heartbreaking for families then as it is now. For children separated from their parents in the hispanic migrants who seek asylum in america. Dr. Carter g. Woodson understood the meaning of migration in this way when he wrote a century of negro migration. He published that book in 1918 and presented, quote, the facts as to how the negroes in the United States have struggled under adverse circumstances to flee from bondage and oppression in quest of a land offering asylum to the oppressed and opportunity to the unfortunate. As asalah calls attention to the many stories of migration and also in the present, we give special attention to the year 1619 when africans arrived on two slave ships in the Virginia Colony. The First PermanentEnglish Settlement in north america. And i always like to say, and this is a digression, africans were in what is presently understood to be the United States as early as the 1500s because they were slaves there of the spanish and they helped to build the city that is the oldest city in the United States, st. Augustine in 1565. But 1619 is crucial because it is the year that epitomizes the moment of the unfolding problem of race and slavery in the american past and present. And we want to applaud the legislation introduced by congressman bobby scott of virginia, and that legislation is titled the 400 years of africanamerican History Commission act, hr1242115. And that came out february 2018. 1619 is important because its part of the story of the United States revolution, that revolution that created the United States. It is the year, as i said, that epitomizes the moment of the unfolding problem of race and slavery in the american past and present. Virginias lawmakers led the 13 colonies in creating a Legal Process that gradually structured permanent racial servitude. Indeed as a colony, virginia, and later as a state would pass laws on race that would serve as a model for defining the subordinant legal status of persons of african descent. Asalah emphasizes 400 years of perseverance in order to capture a history more expansive than enslavement, however. The four centuries bear witness to migration as countless stories of a past left behind and a future full of hope for a world free from Racial Discrimination. This longstanding and steady perseverance includes many actors, some escaping from slavery, some seeking to immigrate to africa, some moving from farm to city in the south or to the west, others seeking employment in the north in the 20th century or returning to the south in the 21st century. And not least of all, those who came to the United States from the caribbean, from south america, from africa and from many other places. Join asalah. Help us to make black History Month the best it is in 1619 to 2019 and throughout this year, come with us on this intellectual journey of black migrations. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Evelyn brooks higginbotham. Our 28th president for the association of the study of africanAmerican Life in history. Once again my name is gloria brownemarshall, professor at John Jay College and a legal historian, but id also like to put on another hat and that is legal commentator who covers the u. S. Supreme court. The study of black history involves many stakeholders. They include asalah members, branch members, students, supporters, readreaders, foundations, scholars, archivists, to name a few. Researchers of history rely on newspapers, and they say that journalism has been the first draft of history. We are pleased to present nichelle smith. She is the coordinating editor of usa todays Investigation Team and the leader of several awardwinning race and diversity projects. Additionally, usa today publishes an annual africanAmerican History publication during black History Month. This year asalahs 400th commemorative calendar and other events are featured in this publication. I give you nichelle smith. Thank you, gloria, and thank you to members of asalah. I am so delighted to finally be presenting this black History Month special edition to you. This is exodus, the issue we have for 2019. We have been doing these issues for seven years, unbeknown to the group. Asalah has been part of what has undergirded the issue since its inception. One of the things that we wanted to do with this edition in particular, we had a little bit of freedom of movement to step away from our founding philosophy. We had founded this in 2013 to celebrate civil rights anniversaries and to find a way to talk about how meaningful those anniversaries were. This year we had a little bit of leeway to really, really drill down deeply into asalahs theme of black migrations to the point that the Writers Group that i bring together every year are like, wow, that is so broad, what are we going to do to narrow that down. Luckily we had a reporter for our main story who had been wanting to talk about the in motion exhibit and the 13 Migration Theory that they set forth and she was able to use the theme to really get into that and tell a story that does not present africanamericans post slavery as victims but rather talks about how we were confronted with a situation in which we had no blueprint and we were able to move through, find our way and use agency and intelligence and independence to build a new life for ourselves. Also in looking at this, we knew we had to talk about the 400th anniversary of the african arrival, and i had been hearing for years, oh, 400th anniversary of slavery. Slavery started in 1619. I went into the research with the idea that i was going to find a precise date. As we went through and i was blessed to have e. R. Shipp, a pulitzer prizewinning writer do this for us, we found that we needed to do some debunking instead. We turned to Darrell Scott and gloria brownemarshall and other people at asalah to help us drill down into that notion and really debunk everything as well as give the schedule. So im tremendously proud of this issue, as i am every year. I think this is probably our most thoughtful issue and i hope that you guys will go online and maybe get a physical copy for yourselves. Its at onlinestore. Usatoday. Com. I also will be posting some of the stories, the key stories from this edition at our civil rights in america website that weve had and ive been maintaining for the past decade or so and thats civilrights. Usatoday. Com. And also i want to let you know that your word and your work travels so much farther than you think it does and than i ever thought it was going to do when we first started this. Last year we were able to give away 11,000 copies for free to museums and schools and libraries, naacp and other institutions. This year im delighted to say that we had the help of a former Washington Post reporter in getting us to 18,000 distributed around the country. I am hearing lots and lots of positive feedback from all over the country and hope that we can continue to present this to you. I just want to tell you how we use this issue to bring things full circle. Not only do we want to go back into the past, but we find things useful in terms of going back and getting what we need and as we push forward into the future. So with black panther being just a phenomenon that it was last year, i found that the asalah theme was a perfect device to talk about the theme in terms of our ancestors must have felt the same way in their search for their Promised Land as we did when we all saw waconda and started searching for that somewhere. I know i did when i went to jamaica. So thank you so much for providing a mechanism to talk not just about america, but about the haitian revolution, about the gullah people, about the islands and so much more that we werent able to get into this issue this time, but we hope to be able to get into in the future. Really appreciate the work. And if i could say one more little thing, i just want to give a little shoutout and love to the black press as well. People debate their purpose and usefulness as more black people are in the Mainstream Press, but without the new service, afro american, the informer, other newspapers, in addition to the historians gathered here today and that are listening, i would not be as informed as i need to be in order to do this work, so appreciate you. Thank you, nichelle. Someone created a National Calendar of events for the 400th. Its a Clearing House of events and activities taking place not just across the United States but around the world. Asalah provides organizations and individuals with a free platform to tell the world about their 400th related events. For example, on our calendar, if you have a chance, you go to asalah. Org and youll see our 400th calendar has a group from wichita, kansas, traveling to africa to give libations for the ancestors. We have dozens of conferences taking place, including a conference thats taking place in hampton, virginia, which is the site of the arrival of the 20 africans in 1619. We have great migration concerts in prince georges county, presenting the music of the different eras of impact and Film Screenings in chicago. If you have a chance to look at our calendar, and of course submit events that are 400th related, youll find that it is an abundant place for us to not only know whats going on in our communities but in communities across the country. Weve been contacted about black History Month celebrated in scotland. There is so much to go see around this world that was started by our founder, dr. Carter g. Woodson, and to understand those connections throughout the diasper. 400 years of perseverance includes a journey that includes overcoming unspeakable obstacles. But because we overcame those obstacles, were allowed to be unspeakable obstacles, but because we overcame were allowed to be in this room today. And it is the honor and glory of that resilience, that perseverance, that makes this 400th commemoration so important not just to the africanamerican diaspora, but to the world. Africanamerican resilience, perseverance, love, family and cultural pride brought us through so much, and here we are today, having gone through all of that, understanding that 400 years of perseverance is represented in so many different ways. Before we go to part 2 of our panel, i would like to have a welcome from the National Press club itself. Thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you, gloria. So great to see you and see all of you here today. Im bill mic keener, the executive director of the National Press club. Were honored to have you at this important occasion and see your Smiling Faces and know that theres so much to celebrate and youll enjoy this Great Program that gloria has put forward. I want to just, if i can, just touch on a couple of aspects of our history that we think important and have to do with progress and participation of the Africanamerican Community and press club together. So recently weve had, lets see, two president s ago, jeff but lu, works for al jauzira, a producer, and their Television Producing happens to be africanamerican, first male at the press club. Weve had africanamerican female president s but this is our first africanamerican male. And he did a tremendous job and was a great ambassador for us. If you go to our balance room, the biggest room around the corner on that side. Theres a plaque and it commemorates the first speaker at the press club. It was dr. Martin loourgt king, he was about 33 years old. And he was a terrific speaker for us. And its meaningful to people when they enter that room and know that dr. King spoke there. Interesting, dont have full video of this event. We have full audio of this event which is on the library of congress website. And he was terrific, of course. And the notes of his, i have a dream speech, that would come later in life, in that rhetoric that day. It was interesting as a historical document to hear and see that. I could go on forever. I know gloria has got great stuff. I will leave you one or two other things that i find fascinating that to our place, our country. So the last place that Lewis Armstrong played trumpet in public was here at the National Press club. For about a year, hed been holding the horn and singing. He had had a heart condition and went up to the force you need to play the trumpet. So hes coming up here in january of 1971 to see us, and his doctor gave him a gothrough right before he got on the train could tom u to come up. He said if you want to play, youre well enough to play. So people came there expecting to see him and hear him sing, but not expecting to hear him play trumpet. And he was great. And we found the audio. And we gave it to winton marsalis, and he said ive heard him play that run from hello dolly, like, hundreds of times, but ive never heard that improvisation. So what it tells us about the human condition is that at the end of life, you know, the artist is still inventing, right . And that music became the lead selling thing on im using, my kids would know these terms on apple, no, on itunes jazz and on one of the other ones, digital ones, for like two weeks. And it was this music was years old. But in a way we hadnt heard it before. So kind of, thats what the one of the things that happens at press club is that stuff thats important to our history, but we havent really listened to it the right way or heard it recently. Helps to us about the world were in and the public. And so much of that we find is the richness both in art and policy and culture thats brought forward from some of our visitors who are, you know, in the Africanamerican Community. And its a wonderful thing. Of course if you really want to know about that, go to that Wonderful Museum down across the street. [ laughter ] i am grateful for an opportunity to see all of you. Im going turn it back over to gloria. Thank you for being here. Thank you for what you do. And grateful for you to be here. [ applause ] thank you. Im also a member of the National Press club. [ laughter ] so as we turn to part 2, we are going to be led by our president , dr. Higgan both om, who will moderate the scholars who will discuss 400 years of perseverance from their perspective. Dr. Higgan botham. So we have a distinguished panel tod