Bill > SR585

This resolution honors Booker T. Washington, a formerly enslaved man who became a prominent educator, leader, and advocate for African American progress. It highlights his significant contributions to Georgia and the nation, including his influential speech at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition to the Cotton States, where he promoted dignity, self-reliance, and cooperation between races, and his efforts to secure support for the exposition, even persuading President Grover Cleveland to visit the Negro Building to showcase African American achievements. The resolution also notes his support for faith-based leaders in Georgia, his personal donation that led to the naming of Booker T. Washington High School in Augusta, Georgia, his role as an advisor to three U.S. Presidents, and his founding of the National Business League, an organization dedicated to empowering Black entrepreneurs. The resolution concludes by directing the Secretary of the Senate to distribute copies of this tribute to the public and the press.

https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72326