National Freedom Day is celebrated February first every year. According to America’s Library, the purpose of the holiday is to promote good feelings, harmony, and equal opportunity among all citizens and to remember that the US is a nation dedicated to the ideal of freedom.

Noelle Urban, a junior, said, “I am thankful that I am able to be educated and have the right to vote as well as the freedom of speech.”

According to Ducksters, National Freedom Day is a day to celebrate freedoms of all Americans and to remember how important freedom is to all of us. The first unofficial celebration of this day was February 1, 1942. Some symbols of the day include a wreath and the Liberty Bell. 

“Arrowhead should announce it in the morning and work on talking about it more in every history class. That way we can all be educated on the topic,” Jordyn Hefter, a junior said.

According to America’s Library, Richard Robert Wright Sr, a former slave, fought to have a day when freedom for all American’s is celebrated. He chose February 1 because it was the day that Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th amendment in 1865. The signing of the 13th amendment outlawed slavery in the US. To make this day a national holiday, the bill was signed in 1948.

“To celebrate I will remember all the people who gave us this freedom: to vote as a woman especially. I would advise other people to educate themselves on these important figures as well,” Urban said.

According to Ducksters, February 1 is not a public holiday; rather, it is a federal observance in which any American can celebrate. This day is celebrated by cities, government institutions around the US, libraries, and educational institutions. Cities and government institutions promote festivals and education programs on this day. Things that other people can do include reading about Civil Rights Heroes and finding out what countries still allow slavery. 

“I think it should at least be more known because of all the fighting, death, and war over this subject. Millions of innocent people lost their lives. Human life that’s not something to be forgotten. If it makes you uncomfortable that’s good because it should never have happened, the hate against African Americans,” Hefter said.