Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
JANUARY 19TH
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, also known as MLK Day, is a federal holiday & National Day of Service, observed nationwide and recognized by all 50 states. The day honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader whose most well-known areas of advocacy include civil rights and racial equality, voting rights, nonviolent resistance, economic justice, fair housing, and opposition to militarism and poverty.
MLK Day commemorates Dr. King’s leadership in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Through peaceful protests and powerful speeches, he challenged racial segregation and inspired a nation to pursue social justice. In 1983, the US Congress passed legislation establishing the holiday, and President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law. Over a decade later, in 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the King Holiday and Service Act, which established MLK Day as a day of service, and encouraged people to volunteer in their communities as a way to honor the life of Dr. King. Even though the first official observance took place in 1986, it wasn’t adopted by all 50 states until 2000.
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
JANUARY 27TH
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Seventy-eight years ago, the largest concentration and death camp in Europe, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. By then, more than six million Jews and millions more people – had been killed by the Nazis and their collaborators. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we honor those innocent lives lost. We honor, too, Holocaust survivors; those who experienced the unimaginable and whose lives were unalterably shaped by it. Many of these descendants felt a pull towards diplomacy – to resolve conflicts with dialogue, not war, and to work so that such a genocide would never happen again. That must be our mission, on this International Holocaust Remembrance Day and always.
WANT TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR CULTURE?!
Share an interesting fact, story, legend, holiday, etc. of your culture! Accepting submissions for January!