Freedom Calendar 01/19/08 - 01/26/08

January 19, 1818, Birth of anti-slavery activist Alvan Bovay, who organized first meeting of Republican Party in 1854, to oppose Democrats’ pro-slavery policies.

January 20, 2001, Mississippi Republican Rod Paige is confirmed as first African-American U.S. Secretary of Education; calls for school choice to allow poor and minority children to “throw off their chains”.

January 21, 1813, Birth in Georgia of John C. Fremont – abolitionist, western explorer, U.S. Senator from California, U.S. Army general, Arizona Governor, and first Republican presidential candidate.

January 22, 2001, Republican Condoleezza Rice becomes first woman and second African-American to serve as U.S. National Security Advisor.

January 23. 1993, Death of Judge John Robert Brown, leader in fight for Southern desegregation; appointed by President Eisenhower to U.S. Court of Appeals.

January 24, 2001, Republican Mel Martínez, appointed by President George W. Bush as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, becomes first Cuban-American in Cabinet.

January 25, 2001, U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee declares school choice to be “Educational Emancipation”.

January 26, 1922, House passes bill authored by U.S. Rep. Leonidas Dyer (R-MO) making lynching a federal crime; Senate Democrats block it with filibuster.

"I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

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