2025 -- H 5327
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LC001313
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025
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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
PROCLAIMING FEBRUARY 6TH, 2025, TO BE "NEW ENGLAND FREEDMEN'S AID
SOCIETY DAY" IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
Introduced By: Representatives Furtado, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Cruz, Chippendale,
Morales, Boylan, Stewart, Hull, and J. Lombardi
Date Introduced: February 06, 2025
Referred To: House read and passed
WHEREAS, The Freedmen’s Aid Society was founded in 1859, with the American Civil 1
War looming, by the American Missionary Association (AMA), a group predominantly supported 2
by the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches in the North, with a mission of 3
educating recently freed slaves and advocating for their rights; and 4
WHEREAS, The Freedmen’s Aid Society organized a group of teachers from the North 5
and set them up to teach in schools in the South for freedmen, who were recently freed slaves, 6
and their children. The Freedmen’s Aid Society also provided them with basic necessities such as 7
food and clothing. The AMA founded more than 500 such schools and colleges in the South, and 8
as a result, many freedmen became educated and went on to serve their communities as teachers, 9
nurses, and in other professional positions; and 10
WHEREAS, These Freedmen's schools were open to men, women and children in the 11
South, and by the turn of the century, the literacy rate for African-Americans had been 12
significantly increased; now, therefore be it 13
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby 14
proclaims February 6th, 2025, to be "New England Freedmen’s Aid Society Day" in the State of 15
Rhode Island; and be it further 16
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RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed 1
to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island NAACP. 2
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LC001313
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