| R 086 |
| 2025 -- H 5327 Enacted 02/06/2025 |
| 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 |
| 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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| LC001313 |
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