Day 42: National Freedom Day

Today is 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. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America's premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 70 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments. Working in the four key areas of Criminal Justice, Economic Justice, Education, and Political Participation, LDF seeks to:

• Diminish the role of race in the criminal justice system and the role of the criminal justice system in community life;
• Increase fairness and African-American participation in all aspects of economic life;
• Increase equity in education and eliminate tolerance for schools that fail students; and
• Achieve full African-American civic engagement and participation in the democratic process.

Donation: $5

To support LDF, please visit:   http://naacpldf.org/