Dates of Significance
Programming Tips –
Making Contact can be used to commemorate dates of significance. Here is a partial list.
* = recognized by the United Nations System
January
15 – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday
16 – World Religion Day
3rd Monday – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Observed)
February
African-American History Month
14 – Valentine’s Day (St. Valentine ministered to prisoners) – see our Prison Desk
21 – International Mother Language Day*
14 – Victory Over Violence Day (www.vday.org)
March
Women’s History Month – see our Women’s Desk
1st Monday – Memorial Day (Canada)
8 – International Women’s Day* – see our Women’s Desk
20 – Great American Meat-Out
21 – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination*
22 – World Day for Water* – see our Environmental Desk
April
Sexual Assault Awareness Month (www.nsvrc.org)
7 – World Health Day*
13 – Day of Silence (solidarity with GLBTQ youth) (www.dayofsilence.org) – see our Queer Youth Collaborative
18 – Yom Hashoah (Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust)
22 – Earth Day – see our Environmental Desk
Last Sunday – World Children’s Day
3rd Thursday – Take our Daughters & Sons to Work Day
28 – Workers Memorial Day (US and Canada, in honor of workers killed or injured on the job) – see our Labor Desk
30 – Arbor Day (begun in Nebraska in 1872 – plant a tree!) – see our Environmental Desk
May
Asian Pacific American Awareness Month
2nd Sunday – Mother’s Day (begun in 1872 as an anti-war holiday) – see our Women’s Desk or our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
1 – International Workers Day/May Day see our Labor Desk
3 – World Press Freedom Day* – see our Media and Democracy Programs
15 – International Conscientious Objectors Day – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
15 – International Day of Families*
21- World Day for Cultural Development*
22 – International Day for Biological Diversity* – see our Environmental Desk
25 – Africa Day*
Last Monday – Memorial Day – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
June
World Gay Pride Month – see our LGBTQ page
4 – International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression*
16 – Juneteenth (African American freedom celebration)
17 – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought* – see our Environmental Desk
3rd Sunday – Father’s Day
20 – First Nations Day (Native & Indigenous Peoples, Canada)
26 – International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking*
26 – United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture* – see our Prison Desk or our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
Last Sunday – Gay Pride Day (Observed) – see our LGBTQ page
July
11 – World Population Day*
14 – Bastille Day (liberation of Bastille prison during French Revolution, 1789) – see our Prison Desk
19 – First Woman’s Rights Convention (Seneca Falls, NY 1848) – see our Women’s Desk
August
6 – Hiroshima Day – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
9 – International Day of Indigenous People*
9 – Nagasaki Day – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
12 – International Youth Day*
23 – International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition*
26 – Equality Day (US women’s suffrage in 1920 – 19th amendment ratified) – see our Women’s Desk
September
1st Monday – Labor Day (begun 1894 by President Grover Cleveland as a way to distract attention from May Day) – see our Labor Desk
8 – International Literacy Day*
16 – International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer* – see our Environmental Desk
Sep. 15-Oct. 15 – Latina/Chicano Heritage Month
21 – International Day of Peace* – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
October
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Native American Awareness Month
1st Monday – World Habitat Day* – see our Environmental Desk
1st Monday – Day of Unity Against Domestic Violence
1 – International Day of Older Persons*
2 – International Teachers’ Day*
2nd Wednesday – International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction*
11 – Indigenous People’s Day (Observed)
11 – National Coming Out Day – see our LGBTQ page
12 – Dia De La Raza (Day of the People – Indian/Latino struggle for justice)
16 – World Food Day* – see our Environmental Desk
17 – International Day for the Eradication of Poverty* – see our Welfare Radio Collaborative
24 – United Nations Day*
November
National Home Care and Hospice Month (www.nahc.org)
1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday – Election Day USA
2nd Thursday – Veteran’s Day – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
2nd Thursday – Remembrance Day ( Canada & Britain) – see our War, Peace and Real Security Programs
16 – International Day for Tolerance*
20 – Universal Children’s Day*
25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women* – see our Women’s Desk
29 – International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People*
Last Friday – Buy Nothing Day (www.adbusters.org)
December
1 – World AIDS Day*
2 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery*
3 – International Day of Disabled Persons*
5 – International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development* – see our Globalization Desk
6 – National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Canada) – see our Women’s Desk
10 – International Human Rights Day*
18 – International Migrants’ Day*
