the tenth grade. we also know that we don't send our kids to a place, we send them to a person so i want to acknowledge that if you want your community members or students on our campus at city college, all you have to do is tell them to call doctor fay. thank you. [applause]. >> good afternoon everybody. i can feel such wonderful energy in the audience and although it's really difficult to follow london breed and miss cohen, i'm very honored to be here as your city librarian to offer opening remarks. several months i attended an i event in birmingham, alabama, which was a highlight for me in celebrating the 50th anniversary

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 that's been made for all so many years. i'm 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 that's been doing a tremendous job of planning over 80 programs. let me call to your attention this pamphlet that's going to be available for all of us at the south cord afterwards after this because it has programs for youth engagement, lectures on history, art, music programs, culture programs, all dedicated to celebrating black culture and the african american experience. i want to shout out, naomi dean from the western addition library is back here. [applause]. the staff at the main library, naomi who is our african american city librarian.

thank you all and we look forward to seeing you at these wonderful programs throughout the month of february and beyond. thank you. [applause]. >> thank you louis. okay, we're moving along, almost on track. there are a couple other people i wanted to mention that are here with us today. the mayor mentioned, malia mentioned linda richardson is here with us today; doctor moses is with us, doctor amos brown, doctor walker from true hope is here with us today as well and i'm sure i'm not saying somebody, but we -- michael sweet from the human

rights commission is here with -- once i start you get in trouble. with that, we're going to move right on to the feature part of our program, our keynote speaker. by the way, let me just say going in, chad williams is going to be our keynote speaker today. he's going to give you a wetting of an appetite of a longer presentation he's going to do it at the african american art and culture complex. you get excited about it tonight, come back to the complex where you'll get some dynamic interaction. they say the fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree, and in that regard we're pleased to have chad's parents here with us, jane and carl williams. i don't know anybody who could introduce them better than we

could introduce them, so come on up. [applause]. >> i asked carl the other day, i said write a few notes down about how you would tell me to introduce chad and i was getting him prepped for him to come in. if you all would introduce your son, and be brief. >> i'll be brief, because i'm the mother so i'm the one who is trying to keep him focused and trying to keep him balanced, but carl is the one who keeps up with all his academic achievements, and i'm going to turn it over to carl for him to give you an introduction to our son, chad williams. [applause] >> i was not expecting to give any remarks and certainly was

not expected to introduce to you the pride and joy of our family , but also i would like acknowledge that chad williams, our son, is a product of san francisco public schools. he went to, and attended and graduated with honors at phillip and saddle burton high school. [applause] one of the things that attracted us to getting him enrolled in phillip and saddle burton was the commitment that they had that every student at phillip and saddle burton was

college material. chad has graduated, he went to ucla where he continued to distinguish himself. he then went on to graduate to honors. then he went to presumption princeton university. i thought he was going to follow the path of jean and jane and i and go to law school, but one day when he was home for the christmas holiday break when he should be filling out applications for law school

he had all these history pamphlets out there and all these study books about history, but what's up with this? he says well, with that, i'm finished. >> with that, i give you doctor chad williams. >> thank you, that's just way too much drama. i /tkoerpbt don't know what to say. thank you mom and dad for that introduction, thank you san

francisco. how we doing? [applause] happy black history month. i can't even begin to express what an honor and privilege it is to join you at this wonderful event. as you know by now i'm from san francisco. i grew up literally five minute ride on the number five ball bus down from the city hall. to be here today to talk about black history month is crazy, but it's really quite a thrill. i'd like to thank the san francisco historical society for extended me the invitation to speak today. al williams and the entire black history kick off committee, you have done a truly amazing job pulling this event together. [applause] thank you to all the city officials who are here today, especially mayor ed lee,

supervisors breed and supervisor cohen. i want to give a special shout out to malia cohen. as she said we knew each other from high school, i went to phillip burton, she went to lowell, nobody's perfect. they beat us in basketball too many times. we participated in a fabulous program called the mayor's forum and instilled in us important life lessons and played an important part in where we are today. we're great examples of what you can accomplish in going through the public school's system, studying hard, staying committed and rooted in your community. thank you malia for setting a wonderful example for all of us. thank you for being here today.

your spirit and energy is what black history month is all about. i attended high school here in san francisco and one of my most memorable experiences there was participating in the accept to college /prap. program. step to college is a program developed by san francisco state university designed to increase college enrollment for african american students by allowed them to transferable college credits. this is a fabulous programs that has helped literally hundreds of students gain access to a college education. i also want to add that one of the courses that i took in this program was introduction to ethnic studies and we had to purchase the books for the course at marcus bookstore. [applause] and being from the western

addition, marcus books holds a special place in my heart. i flew in yesterday and had the pleasure of visiting marcus books yesterday and it remind me what a treasure that store is. there would not be a black history month if it were not for institutions like marcus books and we need to do everything in our power that that purple house on market street continues to serve as the intellectual and life blood as the san francisco black community. in my step to college class i first became aware of a book titled the miseducation of the negro. it was one of the most powerful

books i've ever read. i then began to learn more about carter g woodson. he was born in virginia and received a college degree from the university of chicago. . woodson was committed to the scholarly and academic studies of african american decent. in order to confront this? 1915 he established an organization called the association for the study of negro life and study which still /kh*euss to this very day. what's important to recognize, the study of history at this time was very much a public endeavor. the overwhelming majority of african american didn't have opportunity to attend schools

like chicago or harvard. the practice of african american history had to take place at historically black colleges, but more importantly in local civic organizations, black fraternities, churches, women's clubs and black newspapers, so the san francisco cultural society is a very important part of this long erer tradition. the seeds for black history month were planted in his fraternity and he urged his brothers to take up the work of promoting black history. in 1924 they responded with the creation of negro history and literature week, which they renamed negro achievement week. in 1926 he announced in a press release, february of 1926, the approval of negro history week. so why just one week and why in

february? so the story of negro history week and why woodson selected february has to do with the birthdays of two very important americans, abe lincoln and frederick douglas whose birthdays are february 12 and 13. he chose this week because of tradition because since lincoln's assassination and after the death of frederick douglas, after americans have been celebrating their birthdays across the country so there was a preexisting tradition of celebrating this time that woodson built black history month around. i used to think why are they going to give black months the shortest month of the year? there's not a conspiracy. there's no secret plot behind it. there's a reason. woodson realize third-degree

this event could not just be about lincoln and douglas. he believed history was made by the people, not just a story of great men. , and this is very important. as one of my professors used to always remind us, that history is about the folks that the family stone call everyday people -- the mothers, fathers, garbage men, sharecroppers, domestic workers, students, teachers, hustlers, players, all these folks who make up the wonderfully tapestry of the black experience. amongst these everyday people there was tremendous excitement about negro history week across the country. black history clubs sprang up, teachers programs were organized. it's important to recognize especially during the 1930's and 40's and 50's how radical this was. there was no black history being taught in school.

even segregated black schools, black history would see more as a supplement to person history and not as central to it. what was created was an intellectual insurgency which was part of a larger effort to recognize the fundamental humanities of african americans by documenting and teaching about their historical contribution. it was crucial to the reeducation of black folks, and the reeducation of the entire nation. african american history is american history. [applause] and woodson recognized that it needed to be celebrated and studied year round and this is still true today. he always envisioned negro history week becoming negro history year. events in the 1950's and 60's had an effect on the study and

celebration of black history. it was about consciousness raising as public policy. black was now beautiful. by the late 1960's as young black students on college campuses became increasingly aware and proud of their past, black history month -- black history month gang to replace negro history week. younger activists and individuals prodded their elders to change with the times. got to listen to the young folks sometimes. they succeeded. 1976, 50 years after the first celebration, it officially became black history month. by the mid 1970's something starting happening. it started getting popular, schools started incorporating

it, presidents began to embrace it. since the mid 1970's, democrat and republican has issued d proclamations endorsing the theme. a concerted effort to now embrace difference in the vast multicultural breath of the people and made the country great. it became part of an increasingly crowded in a yearly calendar. this is great. we should know and celebrate the many ways that black people and other groups have contributed to the nation's history. but this has also led to black history month in particular being celebrated in a certain way. it become a month long catalog of prominent men and not nearly enough women. [applause]

with a heavy emphasis on firsts. the first black congressman, black astronaut, mlb player, first black secretary of state, so on. that's important, but there's more to black history, there's more to black american history as a whole than just that. during the past five years it has been especially interesting because it's coincided with arguably the most monumental first in black history, the election of obama. his election prompted a lot of talk amongst many people that we have entered into a new racial era. some folks went so far to suggest that the teaching of black history itself was no longer needed. it was no longer necessary to talk about black history because race no longer mattered. the ultimate color barrier had been broken.

i teach african american history so this made me nervous. i thought i was going to be out of a job. in all seriousness, the past five years have, in some ways, made it more challenging to teach african american history. while important a singular focus on symbolic achievement as embodied by president obama has involved us losing sight of african american history. progress was halting, it was painful, progress often meant taking one step forward and two steps back. progress was marked by both profound joy and deep sorrow as the great james baldwin once wrote, american history a longer, larger, more variant, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it. in thinking about these

powerful words and thinking about the history of black history month and the theme of it this year, civil rights in america, is incredibly important. what is the need to talk about civil rights in /pherblg. america. it's understandable that we would think about what this means in the context, since the remarkable achievements of the civil rights movement. we also have to recognize we're talking about a history a tradition, one rooted in the long history of people of african decent in this country. the civil rights movement did not start with brown verse board of education or the montgomery busboy cot. it start with the american revolution. it was sparked by men and women

and institutions. the struggle for civil rights underpinned the abolitionist movement when they demanded freedom and inclusion and civic participation. the struggle for black civil rights in america transformed the meaning of a civil war, what type of country were we going to be, what type of democracy are we going to be, and shaped the post war reconstruction era. when we think about the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment, the first black senators and congressman, the ground work during this period, we are talking about civil rights in america. another prominent historian described the post reconstruction era as the of african american history. african american did not give up, they did not stop fighting,

they did not surrender their hard earned status at african american. they developed schools like howard, fifth, moor house, fellman. they created organizations like the naacp, the national association of colored women, universal negro improvement association, they protested, they filed suits, they took to the street to cry lynching and racial violence. so the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's did not emerge out of a vacuum. the progress has been hard earned and was built on the struggles of the past. but as w eb said what is the meaning of progress? how do we measure progress?

how do we acknowledge what we've achieved as a country, but acknowledge how our work is still incomplete. that's why it matters. it matters so we can understand with pride, confidence and compassion, with maturity so we can understand where we have been, how we got where we are today and where we need to go. this is a cry of responsibility. carter g woodson understood black history month as a month celebration, but a charge to make black people a central part of its narrative, to recognize we are all part of african american history. james baldwin also one stated that the great force of history comings from the fact that we carry it within us and history is present in all that we do.

african american history is in us, you, me, all of us, regardless of background, embody black history. because of this, black history month must continue to live through us. this is our responsibility. all of us in this great hall have a responsibility to find ways in our homes, in our schools, in our jobs, in our churches, wherever the place may be, to make black history month and everyday part of our lives. we must take the lesson learned from the past, apply it to the president so that we can shape the future in which all people can take full advantage of their human potential. so let us embrace this duty and leave here today inspired to add a new chapter to the story of black history month and the struggle for civil rights in america. we can do it. indeed, we must do it. we have no choice.

the knew /khaour future of san francisco, the future of our country and world, depends on what we do from this moment forward. as martin luther king junior said, from the pulpit of the church on december 5, 1955 in montgomery, alabama, as thousands of black people prepared to embark on a bus, boycott, he said this is our challenge, and our overwhelming responsibility. thank you. [applause] okay, i need to beg your indulgence. thanks, chad, so much, for that spot on presentation. in the haste to get him up, i

overlooked one critical element of the program, martin luther from our guest artist from bay view area, he's going to give us a musical note, couple of songs real quick. i please your indulgence, and then we can adjourn. we also have commissioner christian from the human rights commission also. [music]

>> how ya'll feeling out there? [applause]

i wrote this song enentitled super star, and i want to dedicate it to the parents because i see children among us. they're always paying attention to everything we do, so this