Whereas the theme for Black History Month 2018 is African Americans in Times of War, which commemorates the centennial of the end of the First World War in 1918, and explores the complex meanings and implications of this international struggle and its aftermath; Whereas this resolution will focus primarily on African Americans in the military, which is but one historically important aspect of this far reaching exploration of African-American history; Whereas African Americans have fought for the United States throughout its history; Whereas despite racial segregation and discrimination, African Americans have played a significant role from the colonial period forward; Whereas Crispus Attucks was a fugitive slave working outside of Boston, Massachusetts, as a sailor and during his time off, he worked as a rope maker near the wharf; Whereas in early 1770, competition for work and wages became stiff as British soldiers were contending for the same unskilled positions as the locals; Whereas this situation created tension which slowly escalated to violent confrontations; Whereas on March 5, 1770, Attucks led a group of rope makers and sailors into a confrontation with a group of British soldiers and subsequently was shot and killed; Whereas Crispus Attucks, a Black man, is generally considered to be the first casualty of the Revolutionary War and is remembered as the first of many notable African-American heroes; Whereas Araminta Ross, better known as Harriet Tubman, was born into slavery in Maryland and escaped to freedom in the North in 1849 to become the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad; Whereas Araminta Ross was a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War and also helped the Union Army during the war, working as a spy among other roles; Whereas Araminta Ross, a Black woman, was the first woman to lead an armed expedition during the Civil War; Whereas Araminta Ross guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina