BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SCR 71|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SCR 71
Author: Price (D), et al
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
SUBJECT : Black History Month
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution recognizes February 2010 as
Black History Month, urges all residents to join in
celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during
Black History Month, and encourages the people of
California to recognize the many talents, achievements, and
contributions that African Americans make to their
communities
ANALYSIS : Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, distinguished
African American author, editor, publisher, and historian,
who is known as the "Father of Black History," founded
Negro History Week in 1926, which became Black History
Month in 1976, intended to encourage further research and
publishing regarding the untold stories of African American
heritage.
During the first millennium, the Catholic Church had three
popes who were either from Africa or of African descent:
Saint Victor I (189-99), Saint Miltiades (311-14), and
CONTINUED
SCR 71
Page
2
Saint Gelasius I (492-96); and the first American to shed
blood in the revolution that freed America from British
rule was Crispus Attucks (March 5, 1770, Boston Massacre),
an African American seaman and slave. African Americans
also fought in wars including the Battles of Lexington and
Concord in April 1775, Ticonderoga, White Plains,
Bennington, Brandywine, Saratoga, Savannah, Yorktown,
Bunker Hill, the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1775,
and other revolutionary war battles, the War of 1812,
including, the Battle of New Orleans, the Civil War, the
Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, and
Vietnam; and in spite of the African slave trade, many
Africans and African Americans continued to move forward in
society; during the Reconstruction period, two African
Americans served in the United States Senate and 14 sat in
the House of Representatives.
African American art has made vital contributions to the
art history of the United States. During the colonial era
and the early 1800s, African American art took the form of
small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures, wood carvings,
and ceramic vessels. Soon thereafter, the earliest African
American portrait artists started to emerge, including G.W.
Hobbs, William Simpson, Robert M. Douglas Jr., Patrick
Henry Reason, Joshua Johnson, Robert S. Duncanson, and
Scipio Moorhead; and in the post-Civil War period, African
American artists received increased recognition as it
became more acceptable to display African American art in
museums and other art venues. Major artists of the era
include Edward Mitchell Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and
Edmonia Lewis; and the increased exposure of African
American art ultimately resulted in the Harlem Renaissance
during the 1920s, which was the first major public
recognition of African American art and produced notable
artists including, Richmond Barthe, Aaron Douglas, Lawrence
Harris, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Sargent Johnson,
John Biggers, Earle Wilton Richardson, Malvin Gray Johnson,
Archibald Motley, Augusta Savage, Hale Woodruff, and James
Van Der Zee. This era also introduced African American
authors and poets, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T.
Washington, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Langston
Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen; and African
American artists continued to influence art in this country
during the Civil Rights era. Major artists of the era
SCR 71
Page
3
include Horace Pippin, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence,
William T. Williams, Norman Lewis, and Sam Gilliam who were
all successfully received in galleries, and authors Richard
Wright, James Baldwin, and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the
African American experience.
Africans and African Americans have also been great
inventors, inventing and improving things such as the
air-conditioning unit, almanac, automatic gearshift, blood
plasma bag, clothes dryer, doorknob, doorstop, electric
lamp bulb, elevator, fire escape ladder, fountain pen, gas
mask, golf tee, horseshoe, lantern, lawnmower, lawn
sprinkler, lock, lubricating cup, refrigerating apparatus,
spark plug, stethoscope, telephone transmitter, thermostat
control, traffic signal, and typewriter; and a number of
these brave and accomplished individuals, such as Booker T.
Washington, George Washington Carver, Matthew Hansen,
Daniel Hale Williams, Dr. Charles Drew, Jackie Robinson,
Jesse Owens, Curt Flood, Medgar Evers, and, of course, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., are noted prominently in the
history books of students nationwide, thus enabling them to
learn about the important and lasting contributions of
these individuals.
Prior legislation was ACR 23 (Swanson) of 2009 which passed
the Assembly 76-0 and the Senate 36-0.
Blacks who served in the Legislature
Marguerite Archie-Hudson (D) 1990-96
Assembly Service
Karen Bass (D)
2004- Assembly Service
Willie L. Brown (D)
1965-95 Assembly Service
Steven Bradford (D)
2010- Assembly Service
Yvonne Braithwaite Burke (D) 1967-74
Assembly Service
Wilmer Amina Carter (D) 2006-
Assembly Service
Mike Davis (D)
2006- Assembly Service
SCR 71
Page
4
Julian Dixon (D)
1973-78 Assembly Service
Mervyn Dymally (D)
1963-67 Assembly Service
1967-74 Senate Service
2002-08 Assembly Service
F. Douglas Ferrell (D)
1963-67 Assembly Service
Bill Greene (D)
1967-74 Assembly Service
1975-92 Senate Service
Isadore Hall (D)
2008- Assembly Service
Elihu Harris (D)
1978-90 Assembly Service
Augustus F. Hawkins (D) 1935-63
Assembly Service
Nate Holden (D)
1974-78 Senate Service
Frank Holomon (D)
1973-74 Assembly Service
Jerome Horton (D)
2000-06 Assembly Service
Teresa Hughes (D)
1975-92 Assembly Service
1992-2000 Senate Service
Barbara Lee (D)
1990-96 Assembly Service
1996-98 Senate Service
Juanita McDonald (D)
1992-96 Assembly Service
John J. Miller (D)
1967-78 Assembly Service
Gwen Moore (D)
1978-94 Assembly Service
Kevin Murray (D)
1994-98 Assembly Service
1998-2006 Senate Service
SCR 71
Page
5
Willard Murray (D)
1988-96 Assembly Service
Curren D. Price (D)
2009- State Senate
2006-09 Assembly Service
Leon Ralph (D)
1967-77 Assembly Service
Laura Richardson (D)
2006-08 Assembly Service
Mark Ridley-Thomas (D) 2002-06
Assembly Service
2006-08 Senate Service
Frederick M. Roberts (R) 1919-33
Assembly Service
William Byron Rumford (D) 1949-67
Assembly Service
Sandre Swanson (D) 2006-
Assembly Service
Curtis R. Tucker (D)
1974-88 Assembly Service
Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (D)
1988-96 Assembly Service
Edward Vincent (D)
1996-2000 Assembly Service
2000-08 Senate Service
Carl Washington (D)
1996-2002 Assembly Service
Maxine Waters (D)
1977-90 Assembly Service
Diane Watson (D)
1978-98 Senate Service
Herb Wesson Jr. (D)
1998-2004 Assembly Service
Roderick Wright (D) 2008-
State Senate
1996-2002 Assembly Service
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SCR 71
Page
6
DW:do 2/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****