To begin our program, please welcome the honorable donny r. Tuck, mayor of the city of hampton. Please take your seats. Good morning, and welcome to the 400th anniversary of the first african landing commemorative ceremony. Its my honor to welcome Governor Ralph Northam and first lady pamela northam, Lieutenant GovernorJustin Fairfax, attorney general mark herring, senator mark warner and senator tim kaine, u. S. Representative bobby scott and representative elaine lorry of virginia. Representative karen bass of california and representative william clay of missouri. Speaker of the house of delegates, kirklin cox, first counselor for the embassy of rwanda, former Virginia Governor jared, former Virginia Governor robert mcdonald, former missouri governor eric greitens, former representatives james moran and l. F. Payne, chief judge Roger Gregory of the First Circuit court of appeals, members of the governors cabinet, members of virginia General Assembly, including Senate Majority leader thomas, norfolk mayor kenny alexander, portsmouth mayor john row, chairman joseph green jr. And the members of the 400 years of africanAmerican History federal commission, deputy secretary for fish and wildlife parks, National Parks service officials, including Deputy Director daniel smith and Deputy Director david vela, hampton vice mayor jimmy gray and members of the Hampton City Council and other special guests. On behalf of the members of the Hampton City Council, our city staff and the residents of this great city, it is my honor and privilege to welcome you to Point Comfort, old Point Comfort, freedoms fortress, fort monroe, and now Fort Monroe National monument in hampton, virginia. Todays hampton is a historic city that is 409 years old. When i greet visitors to our city, i often tell them we dont look that old because weve been burned to the ground at least twice. From almost its beginnings, hampton has been a multiethnic and multicultural city, a model for our nation and for the world to emulate. At its founding in july 1610, there were two ethnicities and two cultures here in hampton, that of the english colonists and that of the kikatan indians. Just over nine years later, a third ethnicity and culture were introduced, that of african. In late august 1619, an english privateer ship, the white lion, arrived at Point Comfort with human cargo it had captured in an attack on a spanish slave ship. John rolf, the Virginia Colony secretary, stated that 20odd negroes were traded for food and supplies. Among those first documented africa africans to be brought to north america were two individuals simply known as anthony and isabella. They were married and in 1624, it is believed they gave birth to the first African Child born in english america. They named him William Tucker in honor of a virginia planter. Now, destheir descendants are w this morning. It began with yesterdays ceremony at the Tucker Family cemetery. Another africanamerican family that is here today, the charity family, can chase its roots to Charles City County in the mid1600s. I want to acknowledge the organizations and agencies that have corroborated the past 4 to 5 years to kplplan and execute just weekends commemoration events but speakers, symposiums, panel discussions, cultural events, concerts, and educational seminars over the last three years. These are the hampton 2019 commemoration commission, project 1619, inc. , the commonwealth of virginias american evolution, the Fort Monroe Authority, the Fort Monroe National monument of the National Park service and the 400 years of africanAmerican History federal commission. Id like to especially acknowledge and recognize Calvin Pearson and project 1619, who [ applause ] who began telling the story of the first africans arrival at Point Comfort in hampton, not jamestown. With african landing events annually since august 2008. In closing, researchers and historians tell us that more than 12 million individuals were taken from the african continent during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Of these millions, between 380 to 400,000 were brought to the shores of america. This weekend, we honor, salute, and commemorate those 20 and odd along with those other individuals, yes, even my own ancestors who because of their strength, determination, endurance, perseverance and resilience survived the capture and monthslong transport through the Middle Passage and endured the indignities, dehumanization, brutality, and atrocities of that peculiar institution. To borrow from hebrews chapter 11, all these people died having faith. They didnt receive the things that god had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth. Today, i can imagine that as our ancestors are looking over the battlements of glory and beholding on this platform two congressional representatives, a Lieutenant Governor, a state senator, and a mayor who are all africanamericans, their hearts must be overflowing with joy. Please welcome the honorable james p. Moran jr. , former congressman from the district of virginia and current chair of the Fort Monroe Authority. Please sit. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you, mayor tuck. Nice job. I was revising my remarks as you were speaking since you told some of the best stories, but you did it more articulately than i would have. As chairman of the Fort Monroe Authority, over the last three years or so, there are several people that deserve to be recognized so im going to recognize some of them and then i want to make some what i hope are substantive remarks. First of all and i appreciate your listing so many of them. That does save us a little time. There are a few people i want to give a shoutout to. I want to first recognize Governor Ralph Northam and i want to thank him for all the efforts and achievements that he has made in the pursuit of Racial Justice and reconciliation. Just as an example just as an example that some of you may not be aware of, a number of us on the authority have had a major problem with an arch that exists down the street. It was called the Jefferson Davis memorial arch. It was designated as historic, although anything that is more recent than i am is really not historic. It was put up in the 1950s as a deliberate act of defiance by the daughters of the confederacy. We wanted it down before we had this commemoration today. The governor used his power to come down one morning, took every one of those letters off that arch, and if any of you want to see the letters, theyre over in the museum some place in the corner and help yourself to read them. But it didnt belong here. I also want to call out some friends at the national level, former governors and senators mark warner and tim kaine. Theyve done such a terrific job. A couple other friends in congress, bobby scott, who represents, really, this area, does elaine loria, both of them in excellent fashion. Bobby is chair of the education and Labor Committee for the country. Karen bass karen, so good of you to come to this, karen. She is the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus at the national level. Shes also chair of the africa subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs committee. Awfully good to have you here, karen, and let me mention some of the members of the Fort Monroe Authority because those previous governors appointed them and theyve been wonderful. Our finance state secretary brian ball, resources secretary ma matt strickler, of course senator mamie locke who everybody knows. Doesnt she look resplendent today . Holy smokes. Mary bunting is on the authority. Shes the city manager of hampton. Dr. Rex ellis, who had a major role in the establishment of the National Museum of africanAmerican History, every single one of you need to go through that museum if you have not and we are every day making a closer connection with that museum. Dr. Ed ares. I dont know if any of you have watched the public broadcasting series on reconstruction, but ed is continually interviewed and he does such a terrific job. I listened to him two or three times, trying to write down notes and i thought, holy smokes, i know that guy. Thats ed from the authority. Well, hes done a great job, and ed, thank you. And dr. Maureen lee is a professor at hampton university. Jay joseph is currently serving as vice chair of the authority. Collin campbell is the vice chair but hes recovering a little bit right now. But hes been terrific as well. Incidentally, jay is the brother of molly ball, who was on the was secretary of Natural Resources and was instrumental in much of the direction that weve taken. I also want to recognize clark mercer because clark has done such a great job. Hes chief of staff to the governor and really been directly involved and im going to come across a number of people. In fact, i see the attorney general, mark herring here, our of course our vice Lieutenant Governor, Justin Fairfax is here, all of those folks are going to have an opportunity to speak, but we also have a fort monroe foundation. Theyve raised money for things like the Visitors Center and every one of you should go through that Visitors Center. Its phenomenal, the accomplishments that have been made in such a short period of time to put exhibits there and every day it gets better and youre going to really enjoy going through there. Mike westfall is the president of fort monroe foundation. The inimitable alan diamondstein happen wonderful. Jack spoke yesterday and thank you, jack. The indefatigable bill, jane, and now let me mention particularly glen oder who is the executive director of fort monroe. I cant imagine the number of people he and his lovely wife, mary, have entertained on a weekly if not daily basis. Hes just been terrific. There are so many people, as i look out in the audience, that deserve recognition, but im going to make a few comments so we dont get too far off our schedule. So, this is an historic place, because 400 years ago, some of the most important decisions that shaped our nations future began to be made here. First, we pay respects to the native peoples who lived full lives for many generations. Well before the first english settlers arrived. We also pay respects to those first english settlers, many of whom did not survive. Those english settlers carried with them a strong desire for freedom and for a better life than the one they knew in their first homeland in europe. However, today, we address the paradox that a land settled right here in the name of freedom was also sullied right here at the expense of freedom. We are here to recognize the first enslaved africans who were brought ashore to the english colonies in the americas. Human beings brought here in bondage to old Point Comfort where they were traded for provisions. The english settlers, including the first governor, governor yardly, who made one of those trades for couple of those folks, they decided to trade for them as indentured servants, ultimately to be used as slaves. It is this contradiction, this first immoral decision, that determined who we virginians became. Slave holders for two and a half centuries. The fact that a virginian who became governor and then our third president wrote our nations bill of rights declarg all people to be equal with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a contradiction that undergirds and compromises the america most of us still want us to be, a commonwealth of people who believe in the promise of freedom, justice, and equality for all people. In 1861, at the start of the 1861, at the start of the civil war, 3 extraordinarily brave enslaved black men, their names were frank baker, James Townsend and shepherd mallory, they sought refuge here by boating into the fort under the cover of night. The federal commander, Major General benjamin butler, remember that name, benjamin butler, hes quite an historic figure, he decided not to return those men as fugitive slaves but to protect them by declaring them contraband of war. Releasing them from the ownership of their masters. Their masters came, tried to get them, he explained, you se ceded from the union, youre using these men to build fortifications for the confederacy, this is contraband. As the word of that decision went viral, by word of mouth, the brave act of these three men set off an enormous reaction. It triggered a migration of many more tens of thousands of enslaved people to seek refuge here. Their passion for freedom, combined with commander butlers shrewd yet honorable respect for justice, created movement that would ultimately undermine the institution of slavery and contribute to the preservation of the United States of america, a singular nation willing to fight a bloody, brutal civil war to enable the emancipation of all of its people. It all happened here at what is now celebrated as freedoms fortress. In 2011, this place where the first enslaved africans were brought to english north america, and the first contrabands found refuge, was designated a National Monument by the first elected black president of the United States of america, president barack obama. And ladies and gentlemen, he served his country honorably and competently. We have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go to achieve true equality of opportunity, to overcome all the residual effects of slavery, of jim crow laws, and of systemic racial discrimination. The american middle class was formed from the immigrant working class who successfully defeated the forces of naziism, fascism, and right wing nationalists who had taken control of most of europe in the 1940s. Our federal government made available substantial g. I. Housing and educational benefits for those working class americans who fought and won that war, except for the black soldiers who had fought at least as valiantly but were excluded from those benefits. And so, today, more than a third of africanamerican children are living in poverty. The net worth of white families is nearly ten times that of black families. That gaps tripled in size over the last generation, much of it due, still, to the comparative difficulty black families have in securing a home mortgage. Prison sentences for the same crime are an average 20 longer for black men than white. Scott knows that so well and is trying to address that. A job applicant in the United States with a whitesounding name is 50 more likely to get a call back from a prospective employer than one with an africanamerican sounding name. I could go on and on with these examples of modern day discrimination. Im not going to do that. But i mention some of these facts because this should be more than a day to commemorate. It also must be a day to recommit to being one nation, true to our values, our ideals and our aspirations. We are a great nation. A great diverse nation. Made up of the survivors of a genocide against its first inhabitants, made up of immigrants who came to this country, mostly from europe, prepared to endure discrimination based on their ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs, but who believed that this was a country that would, in time, overcome those prejudices and a country is made up of the descendants of people who were brought in bondage, held as property, treated as subhumans, even in a national constitution, but who persevered, who will triumph for proving their value and their humanity every day and who will help lead this country out of its ignorance and bigotry and selfishness to a future based on truth and justice and unity. Because ladies and gentlemen, the courage to accept the truth gives us the strength to pursue justice and because we do believe what our Founding Fathers understood, e. Pluribe. Pluribu e. Pluribus unum and thats a phrase on our currency, our monuments, and its etched into our national soul. That out of the many, there will emerge one nation. Out of the many, there will emerge one nation and that nation is destined to be as good as it is great. Thank you all very much. Serving as the cochair of the 2019 commemoration, american evolution, please welcome speaker of the Virginia House of delegates, the honorable m. Kirkland cox. Thank you. Good morning. As cochair of the 2019 american evolution commemoration, it is my honor to welcome you to this important ceremony today. Let me begin by thanking the cochairs of our first africanamerican to english north american committee, cassandra newbie alexander and she will st