Fraternal Day Fraternal Day Fraternal Day is a legal holiday in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is celebrated annually on the second Monday in October on the same day as Columbus Day and American Indian Heritage Day. Fraternal Day was originally celebrated in Alabama on the second Thursday of October beginning in 1915. In 1915, The Fraternal Monitor, published by the National Fraternal Congress of America, included notes regarding a Fraternal Day celebration to be held April 22 in San Francisco. Fraternal Day Chairman Dempster personally invited President Woodrow Wilson and the Monitor promoted it as "the greatest
Emancipation Day be moved to the 18th if Emancipation Day falls on the weekend and to the 17th if Emancipation Day falls on a Monday. Each year, activities will be held during the public holiday including the traditional Emancipation Day parade celebrating the freedom of enslaved persons in the District of Columbia. The Emancipation Day celebration was held yearly from 1866 to 1901. In Columbus, Mississippi, Emancipation Day is celebrated on May 8, known locally as "Eight o' May". As in other southern states, the local celebration commemorates the date in 1865 when African Americans in eastern Mississippi learned of their freedom.