United States Observes Black History Month
February 25, 2013
Close-up from "Freedman's Village, Arlington, Virginia" Print from Harper's Weekly, May 7, 1864
From VOA Learning English, welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in Special English. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
And I'm Mario Ritter. February is Black History Month in the United States. It is a time when Americans remember people and events that shaped the story of African-Americans. One of those events was the Emancipation Proclamation, a document signed 150 years ago by President Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation began the process of freeing an estimated four million slaves. Later, the 13th amendment to the Constitution ended slavery across the United States.
Many freed slaves moved away from areas where slavery had been permitted. Some came to the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, in search of a better life.
Arlington National Cemetery is just outside Washington. The cemetery is the final resting place for many former armed forces members. Years ago, the grounds were home to slaves and then former slaves.
Craig Syphax has been working on his family’s history for the past 15 years. He discovered the Syphaxes were an influential slave family in Arlington. He also learned that his great-great-great grandfather, Charles Syphax, belonged to the nation’s first president, George Washington. Charles Syphax lived at the Washingtons’ home in Mount Vernon. He was one of 57 slaves who moved to Arlington House with George Washington’s adopted grandson.
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