CHICAGO (AP) -
Designating the country’s newest national monuments, President Barack Obama
said Thursday that protecting places of natural beauty and historic
significance is a truly American ideal.
Obama used the
powers of the presidency to designate the Pullman National Monument in his
hometown. The historic South Side neighborhood is where African-American
railroad workers won a significant labor agreement in the 1930s that Obama
said led to such protections as the 40-hour work week.
"So this site is at
the heart of what would become America’s labor movement,” he said.
Pullman workers
also played a role in the rise of the black middle class.
Obama began his
career as a community organizer nearby and said returning to designate the
monument “brings back a lot of good memories.”
Before leaving
Washington, Obama signed a proclamation in the Oval Office designating the
Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado, a 21,000-acre site along the
Arkansas River popular for whitewater rafting. In Chicago, he also announced
designation of the Honouliuli National Monument in Hawaii, the site of an
internment camp where Japanese-American citizens and prisoners of war were
held during World War II.
“Conservation is a
truly American ideal,” Obama said. “The naturalists and industrialists and
politicians who dreamt up our system of public lands and waters did so in
the hope that by keeping these places, these special places in trust, places
of incomparable beauty, places where our history was written, then future
generations would value those places the same way as we do.”
Obama also
announced a new program to provide fourth-graders and their families with
free admission to national parks for a year.
The Pullman
designation honors the neighborhood built by industrialist George Pullman in
the 19th century for workers to manufacture luxurious railroad sleeping
cars. The 203-acre Pullman site includes factories and buildings associated
with the Pullman Palace Car Company, which was founded in 1867 and employed
thousands of workers to construct and provide service on railroad cars.
While the company employed a mostly white workforce to manufacture railroad
passenger cars, it also hired former slaves to serve as porters, waiters and
maids on its iconic sleeping cars.
The railroad
industry - Pullman in particular - was one of the largest employers of
African-Americans in the United States by the early 1900s. Pullman workers
played a major role in the rise of the black middle class and, through a
labor agreement won by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, they helped
launch the civil rights movement of the 20th century, the White House said.
The new monuments
bring to 16 the number of national monuments Obama has created under the
1906 Antiquities Act, which grants presidents broad authority to protect
historic or ecologically significant sites without congressional approval.
Some Republicans
have complained that Obama has abused his authority. They renewed their
complaints over the newest designations, especially the Colorado site, the
largest in size by far among the three new monuments.
Obama should “cut
it out,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. “He is not king. No more acting like
King Barack.”
Rep. Doug Lamborn,
R-Colo., called the move a “top-down, big-government land grab by the
president that disenfranchises the concerned citizens in the Browns Canyon
region” in central Colorado, about 140 miles southwest of Denver.
Outdoors and
wildlife groups applauded the Browns Canyon designation, saying it would
allow future generations to enjoy its spectacular landscapes, world-class
whitewater rafting, hunting and fishing.
Illinois’ senators,
Democrat Richard Durbin and Republican Mark Kirk, hailed the Pullman
designation.
“As Chicago’s first
national park, Pullman’s 135 years of civil rights and industrial history
will be protected and enjoyed for generations to come,” Kirk said. He said
the new park would bring up to 30,000 visitors and more than $40 million
annually.
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