FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2/01/12

Sen. Landrieu Recognizes Black History Month

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., will mark Black History Month by celebrating the work and legacies of prominent African Americans through daily Facebook and Twitter updates on their achievements. Posts will feature individuals of national and Louisiana significance, including activists, inventors, athletes, politicians, community leaders, musicians and writers.

“During Black History Month, we celebrate past leaders who fought to create a more just and promising society for all, as well as those who continue the work to make the dream of full equality a reality for future generations,” Sen. Landrieu said. “We must fight to ensure that a quality education, affordable health care and a good job are more than just dreams, but realities for all Americans.

“African Americans have helped write our state's rich history, and they continue to mold its hopeful future. The African American story is one of courage and triumph, and I hope all Americans will pause this month to learn about their journey, accomplishments and contributions.”

Sen. Landrieu is a longtime advocate of legislation and other measures on behalf of the African American community. In 2011, museum officials from the new African American Civil War Museum in Washington D.C. presented her with the Robert Smalls Award for her support of the museum. The museum is the only place in the United States that lists all 24,000 African Americans from Louisiana that served during the war. A legendary black soldier, Smalls seized a Confederate ship for the Union, bringing it successfully past the enemy forces. After the war he served five terms in Congress.

In 2007, she reintroduced the Servitude and Emancipation Archival Research Clearing House (SEARCH) Act, which she first introduced in 2004. The legislation establishes a national database within the National Archives and Records Administration to house genealogical documents that, because of slavery and segregation, are almost impossible to find in common registers and census records. Sen. Landrieu also cosponsored the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act in 2007, which gives the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI the ability to reopen unsolved Civil Rights-era murder cases.

Also in 2007, Sen. Landrieu and then Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., together introduced a bill to change the name of the main hall in the Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) from the "Great Hall," a name shared by the main hall of the Library of Congress, to "Emancipation Hall." The bill was subsequently signed into law.

This month also marks the sixth anniversary of a Landrieu-led resolution in which the Senate apologized to lynching victims and their families for the Senate's failure to enact federal anti-lynching legislation during the first part of the 20th century. Because of the Senate's inability to pass anti-lynching laws, the federal government was left powerless to intervene and protect Americans from mob violence. The Senate apology passed on June 13, 2005.