THE BLACK REVOLUTIONARY WAR PATRIOTS MEMORIAL

WHEREAS, the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Foundation is authorized by the U.S. Congress to construct a memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor the nation's forgotten founders and her earliest advocates for human rights--the 5,000 African-American soldiers of the American Revolution and the countless slaves who sought liberty by running away and/or filing freedom petitions between 1775 and 1783; and

WHEREAS, an extraordinary site for the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial has been secured at Constitution Gardens on the nation's Mall, midway between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument; and

WHEREAS, a preliminary design, featuring 13 life-like figures of African-American men, women and children, has been approved by the National Capital Memorial Commission and awaits additional approvals by the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission; and

WHEREAS, the Patriots Foundation is under strict congressional deadline to raise, from private, nonfederal sources, the estimated $4 million for construction by Oct. 27, 1991, or forfeit the site; and

WHEREAS, the Patriots Memorial will be the first of its kind on the nation's Mall (out of more than 110 memorials in Washington, D.C.) to depict African-American historical figures and will associate¾in the minds of every American¾African Americans as actively participating in the unfolding history of the nation, from the Revolution and Civil War to the Vietnam War, which is symbolized by the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, nearby the site; and

WHEREAS, the memorial's presence on the Mall will be an enduring reminder to African-American youth of positive role models whose memories they can proudly and patriotically promote as the nation's founders; and

WHEREAS, the memorial's presence on the nation's most visible land will resurrect history long ignored by historians and textbook writers and thereby push back the boundaries of ignorance that make so tenuous the daily relations between African-American and white Americans and promote a sense of mutual pride in America and urgency in achieving "one nation" as promised in the Pledge of Allegiance; and

WHEREAS, the Patriot's Memorial has the support of organizations and individuals that represent the diversity of the nation, including the AFL-CIO:

RESOLVED, that the AFT support the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial and encourage its local and state affiliates to support the efforts of the Patriots Foundation.