National Freedom Day 2027 is on Monday

About National Freedom Day

The House of Representatives passed the proposed 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865, after the Senate had approved it in April 1864. On February 1, Lincoln signed the joint resolution, and the amendment went to the state legislatures. The National Archives notes that his signature was not required by the Constitution, but Lincoln added it anyway. Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865, ending slavery throughout the United States except as punishment for a crime.

The idea of a yearly freedom day came from Major Richard R. Wright Sr., who was born into slavery in Georgia in 1855, became president of the State College of Industry for Colored Youth in Savannah, and in 1921 moved to Philadelphia, where he co-founded the Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust Company. According to the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, he created the observance in 1942, early in US involvement in World War II, and chose February 1 because of Lincoln's signature.

Wright died in 1947. The next year Congress passed a joint resolution, approved on June 30, 1948, authorizing the president to proclaim February 1 as National Freedom Day, and President Harry S. Truman issued the first proclamation, Proclamation 2824, on January 25, 1949. The authority now sits at 36 U.S.C. 124, which says the president may issue the proclamation each year. Presidents have not done so every year.

National Freedom Day is a commemorative observance, not a federal holiday, and offices stay open. Because it falls on the first day of Black History Month, many schools and communities pair the two. In Philadelphia, a wreath-laying at the Liberty Bell has long been part of the day, and the National Freedom Day Association has held banquets and awarded scholarships.

Sources: 36 U.S. Code § 124 - National Freedom Day (Cornell Legal Information Institute), Truman Library: Proclamation 2824, National Freedom Day (1949), Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia: National Freedom Day, National Archives: 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. How we check dates.

How to mark National Freedom Day

• Read the text of the 13th Amendment and the National Archives' page on its passage, ratification and the original signed resolution.
• Attend a wreath-laying, lecture or library program held to open Black History Month in your area.
• Learn about Richard R. Wright Sr. and his path from slavery to college president and banker, and share his story with students.
• Visit a museum, historic site or stop on a state freedom trail that tells the history of slavery and emancipation where you live.
• Look into how the 13th Amendment's exception for punishment for a crime is debated today, using a library or law school resource.

National Freedom Day dates