2025 -- H 5327

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LC001313

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

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

War looming, by the American Missionary Association (AMA), a group predominantly supported

by the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches in the North, with a mission of

educating recently freed slaves and advocating for their rights; and

     WHEREAS, The Freedmen’s Aid Society organized a group of teachers from the North

and set them up to teach in schools in the South for freedmen, who were recently freed slaves,

and their children. The Freedmen’s Aid Society also provided them with basic necessities such as

food and clothing. The AMA founded more than 500 such schools and colleges in the South, and

as a result, many freedmen became educated and went on to serve their communities as teachers,

nurses, and in other professional positions; and

     WHEREAS, These Freedmen's schools were open to men, women and children in the

South, and by the turn of the century, the literacy rate for African-Americans had been

significantly increased; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

proclaims February 6th, 2025, to be "New England Freedmen’s Aid Society Day" in the State of

Rhode Island; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed

to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island NAACP.

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