Richard
Robert Wright, Sr |
What
holiday is celebrated on February 1?
It's National Freedom
Day. The purpose of this holiday is to promote good feelings, harmony, and
equal opportunity among all citizens and to remember that the United States
is a nation dedicated to the ideal of freedom.
Major Richard Robert Wright Sr., a former slave, fought to have a day when
freedom for all Americans is celebrated. When Wright got his freedom, he
went on to become a successful businessman and community leader in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Major Wright chose February 1 as National
Freedom Day because it was the day in 1865 that President Lincoln signed the
13th Amendment to the Constitution. Do you know what the 13th Amendment did?
This amendment, an important change to our written law, outlawed slavery in
the United States. Wright gathered national and local leaders together to
write a bill declaring February 1 "National Freedom Day" and President Harry
Truman signed the bill in 1948 making it official.
Educator, politician, editor and banker. Born into slavery in 1855 in
Dalton, GA. Valedectorian of the first graduating class of Atland University
(B.A. 1876); University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Finance.
Escaped slavery and joined the Union Army during the Civil War; principal of
an elementary school in Cuthbert, GA; organized farmers cooperatives and
Georgia's first African-American county fair; organizer of the first
president of the Georgia State Teachers Association (1878) and more.. |
.jpg)