Whereas this resolution may be cited as the Original Black History Month Resolution of 2023; Whereas this resolution has been endorsed by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; Whereas the theme for Black History Month 2023 is Black Resistance , which chronicles how African Americans have resisted oppression in all its invidious forms including: enslavement, lynching, mob violence, police brutality, Black codes, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, lawful segregation, and invidious discrimination; Whereas slavery was a brutal and inhumane system that treated human beings as property and stripped them of their inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; Whereas the history of Black resistance in the United States predates the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, as it historically spans centuries from colonial slavery through contemporary invidious discrimination; Whereas this resolution illuminates some of the momentous recondite history of Black resistance that predates the resistance movements of the 20th and 21st centuries; Whereas Black resistance to slavery was a constant presence throughout the history of enslavement in the United States, and it took many forms, including acts of rebellion, escape, suicide, sabotage, litigation, work slowdowns, feigning illness, misplacing or damaging tools, and other forms of noncompliance; Whereas there is historical evidence of as many as 250 instances of slave revolts involving 10 or more slaves during the history of American slavery; Whereas the Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser rebellions were two of the most significant acts of armed resistance to slavery in the United States, inspiring other enslaved people to resist and making clear the determination of enslaved people to fight for their freedom