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R. R. Wright, Congress, President Truman and the First National Public African-American Holiday: National Freedom Day

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Hanes Walton Jr. ,
Roosevelt Green Jr. ,
Willie E. Johnson ,
Kenneth A. Jordan ,
Leslie Burl McLemore ,
C. Vernon Gray  and
Marion Orr
Hanes Walton Jr.
Affiliation:
Savannah State College
Roosevelt Green Jr.
Affiliation:
Lock Haven of Pennsylvania
Willie E. Johnson
Affiliation:
Savannah State College
Kenneth A. Jordan
Affiliation:
Savannah State College
Leslie Burl McLemore
Affiliation:
Jackson State University
C. Vernon Gray
Affiliation:
Morgan State University
Marion Orr
Affiliation:
University of Maryland
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Extract

In the first year of the 80th Congress, 1947, sundry pieces of legislation were introduced regarding the commemoration of a variety of cultural, social, and political events, groups, or individuals. The House of Representatives saw bills to recognize Grandmother's day (H.J. Res. 35) (Elliot and Ali 1984), Patriot's Day (H.J. Res. 46), Thomas Alva Edison Day (H.J. Res. 64), National Loyalty Day (H.J. Res. 174), National Purple Heart Day (H.J. Res. 189), American Heroes' Day (H.J. Res. 212), Nation-Wide Bible Reading Month (H.J. Res. 20, 169), General Pulaski Memorial Day (H.J. Res. 204), and National Freedom Day (S.J. Res. 37). The bills for National Freedom Day sought to establish a national public holiday to commemorate the moment that African-Americans received their freedom in America. Unlike most of these other bills, S.J. Res. 37 would become law (Public Law 842), and the first National African-American public holiday was established—predating the King Holiday by more than three decades. The passage of this early African-American public holiday bill would in many ways parallel its better-known successor, the King Holiday bill.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 1991 , pp. 685 - 688
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1991

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