The purpose of today is to promote 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. Major Wright chose February 1st as National Freedom Day because it was the day in 1865 that President Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
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 1st “National Freedom Day” and President Harry Truman signed the bill in 1948 making it official.