Freedom Calendar 04/01/06 - 04/08/06

April 1, 1846, Born into slavery on this day, Jeremiah Haralson (R-AL) served in state legislature before being elected to U.S. House in 1874.

April 2, 1855, Republican John Langston becomes nation’s first African-American elected official, in Brownhelm, OH; later served as U.S. Rep. (R-VA) and as diplomat in Republican administrations.

April 3, 1944, U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Texas Democratic Party’s “whites only” primary election system.

April 4, 1887, Republican Susanna Salter of Argonia, KS is first woman elected mayor in nation.

April 5, 1839, Birth of African-American U.S. Rep. Robert Smalls (R-SC), who escaped slavery by commandeering a Confederate gunboat.

April 6, 1869, Republican Ebenezer Bassett is first African-American presidential appointment, as President Ulysses Grant’s Minister to Haiti.

April 7, 1862, President Lincoln concludes treaty with Britain for suppression of slave trade.

April 8, 1865, 13th Amendment banning slavery passed by U.S. Senate with 100% Republican support, 63% Democrat opposition.

“I believe the time will come when the sense of justice of this nation, when the enlightenment of this century, when the wisdom of our legislators, when the good feeling of the whole people will complete this grand work by lifting up out of degradation a race of men which has served long and faithfully by placing it, so far as the laws are concerned, upon an equal footing with all other classes. I have faith in this country.”

Rep. Joseph Rainey (R-SC), the first African-American in the U.S. House of Representatives (1870-79)

SOURCE: Republican Freedom Calendar

Technorati Tags: President Bush and Freedom Calendar or NAACP and Republicans or African-Americans and 13th Amendment or right to vote and Civil Rights or Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass or 40 acres and a mule or Brown v. Board of Education and Martin Luther King or Dred Scott

Related: Keywords Freedom Calendar, Saturday, March 25, 2006 Freedom Calendar 03/25/06 - 04/01/06, Saturday, March 18, 2006 Freedom Calendar 03/18/06 - 03/25/06, Saturday, March 11, 2006 Freedom Calendar 03/11/06 - 03/18/06, Saturday, March 04, 2006 Freedom Calendar 03/04/06 - 03/11/06, Saturday, February 25, 2006 Freedom Calendar 02/18/06 - 03/04/06, Saturday, February 18, 2006 Freedom Calendar 02/18/06 - 02/25/06, Saturday, February 11, 2006 Freedom Calendar 02/11/06 - 02/18/06, Saturday, February 04, 2006 Freedom Calendar 02/04/06 - 02/11/06, Saturday, January 28, 2006 Freedom Calendar 01/28/06 - 02/04/06, Saturday, January 21, 2006 Freedom Calendar 01/21/06 - 01/28/06, Saturday, January 14, 2006 Freedom Calendar 01/14/06 - 01/21/06, Saturday, January 07, 2006 Freedom Calendar 01/07/06 - 01/14/06, Saturday, December 31, 2005 Freedom Calendar 12/31/05 - 01/07/06, Saturday, December 24, 2005 Freedom Calendar 12/24/05 - 12/31/05, Saturday, December 17, 2005 Freedom Calendar 12/17/05 - 12/24/05, Saturday, December 10, 2005 Freedom Calendar 12/10/05 - 12/17/05,