Freedom Calendar 02/09/08 - 02/23/08

February 16, 1812 Birth of Republican civil rights activist and U.S. Senator (R-MA) Henry Wilson, Vice President under Ulysses Grant.

February 17, 1973, Republican Navy Secretary John Warner commissions frigate in honor of first African-American naval aviator, Jesse L. Brown, who died in combat during Korean War.

February 18, 1946, Appointed by Republican President Calvin Coolidge, federal judge Paul McCormick ends segregation of Mexican-American children in California public schools.

February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII.

February 20, 1895, Death of Republican activist Frederick Douglass – escaped slave, author, abolition leader, civil rights champion.

Presidents’ Day, February 21, 1863, Republican Governor John Andrew establishes the 54th Massachusetts, the famous regiment of African-American U.S. troops in which two of Frederick Douglass’ sons served.

February 22, 1856, First national meeting of the Republican Party, in Pittsburgh, to coordinate opposition to Democrats’ pro-slavery policies.

February 23, 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominates African-American Republican Arthur Fletcher as Chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission.

“The Republican Party is the ship, all else is the sea.”

Frederick Douglass, Republican Civil Rights Activist

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