Following are the remarks, as prepared for delivery, by Wilbert Bryant, counselor to Secretary Rod Paige on the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) today to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

WILBERT BRYANT: Good Afternoon. It is indeed an honor and a pleasure for me to be with you this afternoon. I bring you greetings on behalf of Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

We are here today to celebrate and reflect on the many accomplishments African Americans have made not only to this nation but also to the world.

Convinced that the history of African Americans was being ignored and misrepresented, Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and the Journal of Negro History a year later. In 1926, he established Negro History Week, a celebration of achievements of African Americans now known as African American History Month. Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the Negro American population: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

As you know, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v the Board of Education, a decision which led to the desegregation of America's schools. The Brown litigation brought to the forefront the effects of segregation in our society, as it challenged the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, a ruling that mandated racially segregated facilities. The "separate but equal" rule provided constitutional sanction for the adoption of a series of Jim Crow laws, which were endured by African Americans until the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education.

The case succeeded because of the courage of African Americans, such as Thurgood Marshall--who led the arguments at the Supreme Court--and countless others. Marshall stressed to the court that the "badge of inferiority" stamped on minority children by segregation hindered their full development, no matter how "equal" physical facilities might be.

In his 1954 decision in the Brown case, Chief Justice Earl Warren affirmed the importance of education to a democratic society. He wrote, "Education is the very foundation of good citizenship.... In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Thus, the Supreme Court declared that schools must be desegregated "with all deliberate speed."

The Brown decision gave tremendous momentum to the civil rights movement and hastened integration in public facilities and accommodations. Brown also led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, in which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to accommodate white passengers. This further led our country into the civil rights movement which spanned the 1950s and 1960s.

The boycott was important because it caught the attention of the entire nation. People around the country were made aware of the event because it was launched on such a massive scale and lasted for more than a year. Furthermore, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was important because it set the tone for the whole civil rights movement. In particular, the boycott gave Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a position of leadership within the national movement and showed that the nonviolent method of protest was effective.

Your theme for this year's diversity celebration is "Honoring Our Past, Transporting to the Future." Our past is what brings us here today, and as we celebrate the many accomplishment of African Americans, we should also use this opportunity to build upon these achievements to improve the world in which we live, transporting us into our future.

Our future is dependent upon what we do today, and one very real thing we can do today to improve our future is to improve our educational system. Today, in this country's educational system there is a significant achievement gap that exists between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers, despite the billions in federal spending that have gone into education since 1965. Every child in America deserves a great education. But what we see today is a racial achievement gap that is very real and not shrinking.

Although many strides have been made in education since 1954, we must improve the achievement of all children to maintain our economic leadership and to transport them into hopeful future.

Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, this administration has established that the education of every child in America is its number one priority. This educational priority has taken its expression in the form of the No Child Left Behind Act. Since its passage by a bipartisan vote in Congress in December 2001, the U.S. Department of Education has been working with students, parents, teachers, administrators, local school districts, colleges and universities and private and nonprofit organizations to help our nation's schools respond to the tenets of this act.

The Department is working with the National Council of Negro Women, the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation and numerous other organizations to reach out to communities, to close this achievement gap.

The Department has a strong focus on helping America provide excellent educational opportunities for all Americans, regardless of the color of their skin or the number of their ZIP Code. It will achieve this through the continued implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. This legislation provides supportive services for students in the elementary grades and high school to enable them to be better prepared for secondary education and college. The No Child Left Behind Act creates a framework for transporting our nation into the future by (1) increasing accountability for student performance (with districts and schools rewarded for their successes), (2) reducing bureaucracy and increasing flexibility (in the use of federal funds provided to states and school districts), (3) expanding parental options (by providing information and other options to empower parents to take a greater lead in their children's education), and (4) focusing on what works (through funding for the identification of programs and practices that have proven to be effective).

No Child Let Behind will bring solid, research-based programs to schools throughout the nation. The act puts a special focus on doing what works.

Also, on Sept. 15, Secretary Paige announced the premier of a monthly TV program to be broadcast to hundreds of cable outlets on the third Tuesday of each month. The program, "Education News Parents Can Use," kicked off the 2003-2004 school year and will help empower parents. The Department understands that outreach is important--and that for parents to make informed decisions concerning their children's education, they need information. Parents looking for more information on No Child Left Behind can order a free copy of No Child Left Behind: A Parent's Guide by contacting the Department of Education or ordering online at: www.edpubs.org.

As No Child Left Behind begins to take effect in America, we will begin to see a larger pool of students who are better prepared for the rigors of postsecondary education. We will see a lessening in the need for remedial courses. We will see more students who have been taught by teachers who are highly qualified in the subjects they teach. Also, we will see more students who, because they have been given the foundation of an excellent education to transport them into a productive future, train to become the next teachers, scientists, transit authority personnel, and leaders of this great nation. No Child Left Behind begins with a belief that every child can learn and is committed to see that every child is educated.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we must also celebrate our Historically Black Colleges and Universities. For over 150 years, our nation's HBCUs have understood the potential of providing an excellent education for every child. The founders of these great institutions saw the promise and opportunity that education offered--to lift up a people and change lives of low expectations to lives filled with promise and hope. The promise offered by an excellent education remains today, for all children, regardless of the color of their skin or the geography of their home.

I was born and raised in segregated South Florida. I entered college in 1958 and it was an HBCU that provided me with the only opportunity for a college degree. I graduated from Florida A&M University and, later in life, I received a master's degree from Howard University. I have served as a vice president of an HBCU, Virginia Union University, and as secretary of education for the state of Virginia. I am honored that now I serve as counselor to the secretary for the White House Initiative on HBCUs. I understand not only the legacy of these institutions but also the importance of the contribution that each and every one of them make every day, helping our young people succeed in school and succeed in life. HBCUs play a critical role in providing educational opportunities for African Americans, opportunities that would be available nowhere else, opportunities that have changed the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of young people throughout America. They are a source of accomplishment and great pride for the African American community, as well as the entire nation.

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