Over me and before i be a slave ill be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free i want yall to sing it with me now. Oh, oh, freedom oh, freedom o freedom over me over me and before i be a slave ill be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free applause thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Im al williams, president of the board of directors of San Francisco africanamerican historical and cultural society. On behalf of the society and our copresenters, the San Francisco africanamerican chamber of commerce, the bayview ymca, senator mark lenos office, the San Francisco public library, and the Mayors Office of neighborhood services, welcome to the 2013 black History Month program. The 2013 black History Month theme is at the crossroads of freedom and equality, the emancipation proclamation and the march on washington. The society is the lineal descendant of the San Francisco atheneum. It has been the only San Francisco ins
[music] martin luther, yall. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, couple of quick things and ill let you go. Chad is here, as i said hes going to be with us this evening over at the culture complex. Hell be here afterwards. Anybody who joins the Society Today with the membership organization, anybody who joins the Society Today at standing level will get a copy of his book, autographed copy of his book and hell be there to sign his book. Martin luther mentioned young black people. There was a group of fifth graders from william cob elementary that was here. They went to eat earlier. Give them a round of applause for being here. Its all about the young folks. [applause] in your programs, in would nt have been possible without your upon sponsors. Id like to pay special attention to the committee. A couple of people in particular, Carol Bell Thomas Moss was just a stellar in helping to pull this program all together. Lamont pweurb bishop was here with us earlier. Dj jo
Retirement, but he was a good guy. Commissioners . Commissioner chan . I will certainly miss deputy chief loftus and two of my Favorite Police officers and since i joined the Police Commission and the yuf nile Justice Policy and i am sad that i think that they look too young to retire because they object to that. And i know that they are going to do a lot for it and Going Forward as the alumni of the department and so a couple of things, we know that commissioner kingly is no longer to the commission and she reorganized her house and did the detailed and commissioner turman and all of the things that we need to do and commissioner kingsley is also the one on the commission that asked the very detailed and very thoughtful questions and she listens to every word of every presentation here. And she is something who is very compassionate and very hard and committed to the city. And i am sad that she is not on the commission any more but i know that she is moving on to bigger adventures and
Decent, particularly in San Francisco and bay area since that time. We are very fortunate in keeping with the libation to have one us today one of the early founders of the historical society. It was founded by one group of people and emerging by another group that has been led by miss francis mill at that time. Will you all give mrs. Lane a round of applause. Shes with us today and is one of the founders of the society. [applause] okay, with that were going to move forward with the program and ask rev rand stacy curre in to come up and do the invocation. It may be raining outside, but its beautiful in here, isnt it . Amen. Lets take a moment to pray together an invite the spirit of god into this celebration. Lets pray together. God of our years, god of our silent years, thou who has brought us this far, thou who has by thy might has led us. We come here today to begin the celebration of African American History Month. We come recognizing the strong shoulders on which we stand. Those,
Of the Civil Rights Movement. They awarded andrew young for the legacy award for his contributions to the African American Civil Rights Movement in our country. It was clear to me that the movement has had wonderful successes, but the movement continues, so the theme of civil rights is so appropriate as we continue to share the experience, the history and the progress thats been made for all so many years. Im particularly proud of having a very strong relationship with the African American Historical Society and the African American culture complex. Our staff does a remarkable job in working to provide a whole sra variety of programs in our libraries. We have an amazing relationship with our African American community at our African American center at the main library. I want to call out some of the staff thats been doing a tremendous job of planning over 80 programs. Let me call to your attention this pamphlet thats going to be available for all of us at the south cord afterwards afte