Rep. Sewell Celebrates Black History Month on the House Floor, Condemns Recent Attacks on Black Americans

Washington D.C. - U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) spoke on the House Floor to celebrate Black History Month and condemn the Trump Administration's recent attacks on Black Americans.

Watch on YouTube here.

Rep. Sewell: Mr. Speaker, I rise with my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues in celebration of Black History Month 2026, a time to recognize the extraordinary contributions that African Americans have made to the history and culture of America.

Black History Month is an opportunity to acknowledge the inventors, artists, changemakers, and everyday citizens who built this nation and who continue to shape our shared destiny.

As the Representative of Alabama's Civil Rights District. I stand on the shoulders of visionary leaders who risked everything for a vision and a dream bigger than themselves. Leaders like Rosa Parks, our former colleague, the Honorable John Lewis, Dr. King, Amelia Boynton Robinson, and so many others.

As a daughter of Selma, I know that their sacrifices brought us the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, daring this nation to live up to its highest ideals of equality and justice for all.

Sadly, we live in a time when Black history and Black Americans are under attack. Old battles have indeed become new again.

Throughout the past year, our communities have been at the center of the chaos and destruction that this president and his administration has visited upon the American people. President Trump has tried to whitewash our history. He has cut our health care while giving tax breaks to billionaires. He has canceled Black History Month celebrations at the White House and has targeted Black immigrants with racist smears. And he has waged an all-out assault on the right to vote.

Just this week, the Trump Administration arrested two Black journalists who were simply doing their jobs. And right now, President Trump's cronies are fighting in the Supreme Court to undo what remains of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Their actions threaten to take us back to a time before the Civil Rights Movement, a time when Black Americans were second-class citizens and discrimination was the law of the land.

In my home state of Alabama, Trump's attacks on Black Americans are on full display. Last year, his executive order led to the removal of the brave Tuskegee Airmen from the Air Force Training Manual. Just two months later, his administration tried to sell off the site of the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

And while both of these decisions were eventually reversed, it was only because our community, the African American community, spoke up and refused to be silent.

Mr. Speaker, these tactics are not new. They are borrowed from the same tired playbook that has been used for centuries to silence our voices and dilute our power.

In these troubling times, we should take a lesson from the Foot Soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. Shortly before his passing, Congressman John Lewis gave us a marching order. He was frail, riddled with cancer. But he went back on that bridge one last time, and he told us to never give up, to never give in, to keep the faith, and to keep our eyes on the prize.

So, my friends, my fellow Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, we can be tired. We can be frustrated. We can be downright mad. But what we cannot do is give up.

We need to use our voices and call out injustice wherever it hides. We need to demand better from our elected officials. We must vote like we've never voted before.

I want to thank my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus for hosting this special hour and I want to thank my colleague from Virginia for her tireless leadership in these efforts.

This Black History Month must be more than just a celebration. It must be a call to action. Generations of Americans, past and present and future, are counting on us to meet this moment with the urgency it demands.

We must do so in the name of our foremothers and our forefathers. We must do so in the name of the future leaders of this nation. We must do so because it is always right to do what is right.

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