Expanded to black History Month. We would like to thank our sponsors. They include the prince georges truth branch. 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 of 2019 is special for many reasons. We will explore those reasons in two parts. Part i, well 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 will enlighten 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, alison fitzgeraldcojak. If youll go get her. Who will come to give welcome in a few minutes. We are also honored to have the presence of dr. Loni g. Bunch iii. The founding director of the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture, and also a solace centennial ray of light. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Bunch. Thank you for your ongoing support and your embrace of the legacy of our founder, dr. Carter godwin woodson. Each year the president of discloses a theme of 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. The victor s. Thompson professor of history and africanamerican studies and 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 the scrolls. And to read her statement on this years black history themed black migrations, i give you dr. Higgenbotham. Thank you and welcome. So, 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 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. Founder dr. Carter g. Woodson understood the meaning of migration in this way when he wrote a century of anything owe migration. He published that book in 1918 and presented, quote, the facts to how the negros in the United States have struggled under adverse circumstances, to plea from bondage to a land offering asylum to the oppressed and opportunity to the unfortunate. As we call attention to the many stories and forms of migration over the centuries, 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, saint augustan in 1865. 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 hr 1242115. And that was that came out february of 2018. 1619 is important because its part of the story of the United States revolution, the 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 suborder to capture a history more expansive than enslavement. The four centuries bear witness to my kbraigration as countless stories of a world left behind and a world full of hope from Racial Discrimination. This longstanding and steady perseverance includes many actors, some escaping from slavery. Some seeking to immigrant 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 us. 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. [ applause ] thank you, doctor. Our 28th president of the association for the study of africanamerican life and history. Once again, my name is gloria brown marshall, professor at john j. 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 asala members, branch members, students, supporters, readers, foundation scholars, archivists, to name a few, but researchers of history rely on newspapers. And they say that journalism has been the first draft of history. We are pleased to present nischelle myth, the coordinator editor of usa todays Investigation Team and the leader of several awardwinning race and diversity projects. Additionally usa today publishes an annual africanamerican publication during black History Month. This year, asalas 400th commemorative calender and other events are featured in this publication. I give you nischelle smith. [ applause ] thank you, gloria, and thank you to members of asala. 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, and we have been doing these issues for seven years unbeknownst to the group. And asala 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 were those anniversaries were. In this year we had a little bit of leeway to really, really drill down deeply into asalas theme of black migrations to the point that the Writers Group i bring together every year we were 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 shamburgs in motion exhibit in 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 postslavery as victims, but, rather, talks about how we were confronted with the situation in which we had no blueprint and we were able to kind of move through and find our way and use 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 from years, oh, 400th anniversary of slavery. Slavery started in 1619. So i went into the research with the idea that i was going to find a precise date, and as we as we went through and i was blessed to have e. R. Ship, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, do this for us. We found that we needed to do some debunking instead, and we turned to daryl scott and gloria brownmarshall and other people at asala 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 will go online and maybe get a physical copy for yourselves. Its at onlinestore. Usatoday. Com. I also will be having will be posting some of the stories the key stories from this 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, than i ever thought that 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, ncaa aaacp and other institutions. This year im pleased to say we had the help of a former Washington Post reporter in getting it distributed to 18,000 people around the country. Im hearing lots and lots of positive footbeedback from acro the country and hope 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 the themes useful in terms of going back and getting what we need and as we push forward into reporte into the future. So with black panther being just the phenomenon it was last year, i found that the asala theme gave it was the perfect device to talk about the theme in terms of our ancestors must have felt the same way in the search for their promise land as we all did when we saw wakanda 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 gulla people, about the islands and so much more that we werent able to get into this issue this time but hope to be able to get into the future. Really appreciate the work. [ applause ] 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 news service, afro american, other sources and the historians that are gathered today and listening, i would not be as informed as i need to be in order to do this work. Appreciate you. [ applause ] thank you, nischelle. Asala created a National Calender 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. Asala provides organizations and individuals with a free platform to tell the world about their 400th related events. For example, on our calender if you have a chance, you go to asala, asalah. Com. Asalah. Org and our calender has a group from wichita, kansas traveling to africa to give libations to the ancestors. We have dozens of conferences taking place, including in hampton virginia, which is the site of the arrival of 20 africans in 1619. We have great migration concerts in Prince Georges County presenting the music of different eras of impact and Film Screenings in chicago. If you have a chance to look the our calender and, of course, submit events that are 400th related, you will 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 diaspra. 400 years of perseverance, the arrival of the 20 africans in virginia would include a journey that was overcoming unspeakable obstacles. Because we overcame those obstacles were allowed to be in this room today. It is the honor and the glory of that resilience, that perseverance that makes this 400th commemoration so important, not just to the africanamerican 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. And before we go to part ii 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 great to see all of you here today. Im bill, the executive director of the National Press club. Were honored to have you at this important occasion, and to see your Smiling Faces and to know that theres so much to celebrate and that youll enjoy this Great Program that gloria has put forward. I want to just, if i can touch on a couple of aspects of our history that we think are important and have to do with progress and participation of the African American community and the press club together. So recently weve had two president s ago, jeff balu was our president. Hes a producer in a television programming. Happens to be an African American. This is our first African American male president at the National Press club. Weve had African American female president s but this is our first African American male, and jeff did a tremendous job. Because a great ambassador for us. If you go to the ballroom, the biggest room around the corner on that side, theres a plaque and it commemorates the first African American speaker at the press club in 1962. It was dr. Martin luther king. He was about 33 years old then. And he was terrific, a terrific speaker for us. And its meaningful to people when they enter that room and know dr. King spoke there. Interesting, dont have full video of this event. We have full a audio on the library of congress website, and he was terrific, of course. And there is notes of his i have a dream speech. It came later in life in that rhetoric that day. So t interesting just as historic documenting. And i could literally go on like this forever, but i know gloria has great stuff. Ill leave you one or two other things that i find fascinating that inform our place, our country, so the last place that Lewis Armstrong played trumpet in public was at the National Prez club. For about a year he had been holding the horn and singing. He had a heart condition and wasnt up to the force you needed to play the trumpet. He was coming up here in january of 1971 to play us. His doctor gave him a go through right before he got on the train to come up, and he said, you know, let your own conscious be your guide. If you want to play, youre well enough to play. So people came there expecting to see him and to hear him sing, but not expecting to hear him play trumpet, and he was great, and we found the audio and gave it, and they heard it play that run from hello dolly hundreds of times, but 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 leadselling thing on my kids would know the terms on apple no, i tunes jazz, and on one of the other ones, digital ones for two weeks. And it was the music was years old, but in a way we hadnt heard it before. Kind of thats what the one of the things that happens at press club. Stuff that is important to our history, but we havent really listened to it the right way or heard it recently. It helps inform us about the world were in in the public. We find the richness in art and policy and culture thats brought forward from some of our visitors in the African American community. And its a wonderful thing. Of course, if you really want to know about that, that Wonderful Museum down across the street. Anyway, i am grateful for an opportunity to see all of you. Im going to turn it back over to gloria. Thank you for being here. Thank you for what you do, and grateful for you to be here. Thank you. Im also a member of the National Press club. So as we turn to part 2, we were going to be led by our president , dr. Higginbotham who will moderate the speakers. Doctor higginbotham . So we have a distinguished panel today. Bren