Emancipation Proclamation went into effect freeing Confederate slaves. (1863)

“I am a feminist because I believe in social change, equality, and making society and the world a more equal place.”
~ Chantal Partamian, Lebanon

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.”
~ Ernesto Che Guevara

Ethnic discrimination outlawed worldwide. (1969)

Nellie Tayloe Ross (Wyoming) became the first female governor inaugurated in the United States. (1925)

“The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself, but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity.”
~ Marcus Garvey

“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is that they must change if they are to get better.”
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

President Lyndon B. Johnson declared War on Poverty during his State of the Union address before Congress. (1964)

Birthday of Carrie Lane Chapman, a women’s rights pioneer who founded the National League of Women Voters in 1919. (1859)

The first meeting of the UN General Assembly with delegates from 51 countries. (1946)

“I would like to see anyone, prophet, king, or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.”
~ Neil Gaiman

Genocide outlawed worldwide. (1951)

Douglas Wilder became the first African American governor (Virginia) in the US. (1990)

Birthday of Albert Schweitzer, who served as a medical missionary in African and received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the brotherhood of all nations. (1875)

Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr, the American civil rights leader and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. (1929)

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day of Service

“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”
~ Pearl S Buck

Robert Clifton Weaver was sworn in as the first African American Cabinet member in US history, serving as LBJ’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (1966)

Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India. (1966)

The first African American United States President, Barack Obama, was sworn into office. (2009)

2.6 million around the world join the Women's March on Washington. (2017)

Supreme Court recognized women’s right to reproductive autonomy in Roe v. Wade. (1973)

Charles Curtis (from Kansas) was the first person of Native American ancestry to serve in the US Senate. (1907)

“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.”
~ Bryan Stevenson

“We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however gained.”
~ Derrick A. Bell

“Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe.”
~ Arundhati Roy

Birthday of labor leader Samuel Gompers, who allied several national unions under the American Federation of Labor and became its first president. (1850)

Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion. (1935)

“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.”
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
~ Charles Dickens

Birthday of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play professional baseball. (1919)

President Lincoln approved the 13th Amendment, outlawing all slavery. (1865)

The 30 year old ban on the African National Congress in South African was lifted by President deKlerk, who promised to free Nelson Mandela and remove restrictions on political opposition groups. (1990)

The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, which gave Blacks the right to vote. (1870)

Twenty countries in the United Nations signed the “Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” document. (1985)

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
~ Saint Mother Teresa

“There must exist a paradigm, a practical model for social change that includes an understanding of ways to transform consciousness that are linked to efforts to transform structures.”
~ Bell Hooks

Birthday of Frederick Douglass, non-violent advocate for the rights of African Americans. (1817)

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr

“I put my hand on the cat’s chest and felt his heart beating. The pulse was faint and fast, but his heart, like mine, was ticking off the time allotted to his small body with all the restless earnestness of my own.”
~ Haruki Murakami

“Courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
~ Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa after serving 27 years of a life sentence. (1990)

The day the N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded. (1909)

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

“I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.”
~ Susan B. Anthony

Birthday of Susan B. Anthony, non-violent advocate for the rights of women and African Americans, and the first American woman to have her image on a US coin. (1820)

“It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it or none of us has it.”
~ Maya Angelou

“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.”
~ Cleveland Amory

Nazi Resistance Day – in honor of those who resisted Hitler’s Nazi government during WWII. (1943)

“I am certain, however, that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.”
~ Friedrich Hayek

World Day of Social Justice – for equal rights, freedoms, and protections under law, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly. (2007)

The day American Muslim leader Malcolm X, advocate for African American rights, was assassinated in New York City. (1965)

The day that 80 participants in the three month old bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama gave themselves up (including MLK, Jr. and Rosa Parks) for arrest. (1956)

Birthday of W.E.B. DuBois, African American educator and leader. (1868)

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci

The first Black senator, Hiriam R. Revels, took office. (1870)

The Communist Manifesto was published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which advocated the abolition of all private property and a system in which workers own all means of production, land, factories, and machinery. (1848)

“Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.”
~ Karl Marx

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.”
~ Karl Marx

President Kennedy established the Peace Corps, which sends American volunteers to developing countries to assist with health care, education, and other basic human needs. (1961)

“Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.”
~ Garrison Keillor

A women’s suffrage march in Washington, DC was attacked by onlookers and a riot ensued. When police did not quell the riot, Secretary of War Henry Stimson ordered soldiers from Fort Myer to restore order. (1913)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed the first woman to a Cabinet post, Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. (1933)

Day to commemorate the birth of Taoist Lao-Tzu, who lived simply, respected all life, and recognized the equality of all.

Viola Liuzzo, a Unitarian Universalist civil rights activist, was murdered by white supremacists after her participation in the protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. (1965)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. (1966)

International Women’s Day (1908)

“There are few people in the world who are strong and brave enough to take risks for a cause that is greater than we are.”
~ Monica Roa

Harriet Tubman, an African American abolitionist, humanitarian, and who risked her life to guide slaves to freedom, passed on. (1913)

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
~ Harriet Tubman

“Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”
~ Mark Twain

“A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm.”
~ Jostein Gaarder

Birthday of Lucy Hobbs Taylor, women’s rights advocate and the first female dentist. (1833)

“I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”
~ Malala Yousafzai

The day Pope John Paul II expressed remorse for the failure of Christians to prevent the murder of six million Jews during WWII. (1998)

“To err is human, to purr is feline.”
~ Robert Byrne

The day the first woman, Dr. Amina Wadud, served as imam, leading a public, mixed-gender, Muslim congregation. (1994)

Birthday of David Livingstone, the explorer and medical missionary who was born in Scotland and served all over Africa. (1813)

The day Pope Francis urged members of all religions, and those who have no religion, to unite to defend peace, justice, and the environment. (2013)

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will….”
~ Thomas Jefferson

Attempt to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender, failed three states short of passage. (1972)

The day to hold a vigil for the protection of women in Pakistan from ‘honor’ killings, dowry killings, female infanticide, domestic violence, rape, acid attacks, and other gender-based violence.

“Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.”
~ Evelyn Cunningham

Fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, which killed 123 women, spurred national interest in the rights of mostly immigrant women workers who labored long hours in dangerous conditions. (1911)

Camp David Accord, the treaty of mutual recognition and peace between Israel and Egypt, was fostered by President Jimmy Carter. (1979)

“Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn’t have what it takes.’ They will say, ‘Women don’t have what it takes.’”
~ Clare Boothe Luce

“If no one had ever challenged religious authority, there’d be no democracy, no public schools, women’s rights, improvements to science and medicine, evolution of slavery, and no laws against child or spousal abuse.”
~ Mary Griffith

“Different ethnic groups and different nations come together due to common sense.”
~ Dalai Lama

Effective date of the 15th Amendment, recognizing the right of all ethnic people to vote. (1870)

Birthday of Cesar Chavez, who won recognition of migrant workers’ rights through organization and non-violent protest. (1927)

Day that same-sex marriage was first legally recognized. (2001 in the Netherlands)

“It takes no compromise to
give people their rights…
it takes no money to respect the individual.“
~ Harvey Milk

The US Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that African Americans cannot be barred from voting in Texas Democratic primaries. (1944)

The first meeting of the UN General Assembly with delegates from 51 countries. (1946)

“Our power is in our diversity, and with diversity comes new knowledge and new truths.”
~ Medea Khmelidze

National Day of Hope (to end child abuse)

“I have lived with
several Zen masters
-- all of them cats.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dream of.”
~ Nelson Mandela

The Civil Rights Bill passed Congress granting Blacks the rights and privileges of US citizenship. (1866)

“An educator should consider that he has failed in his job if he has not succeeded in instilling some trace of a divine dissatisfaction with our miserable social environment.”
~ Anthony Standen

The day that Pope John XXIII called for world peace, recognition of human rights, and justice under law. (1963)

“Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore…prove ultimately futile.”
~ Pope John Paul II

“The pure connecting factor is that those of us who describe ourselves as feminists want equal rights for all people.”
~ Betty Buckley

“The earth is the Mother of all people,
and all people should have equal rights upon it.”
~ Chief Joseph

“At the risk of sounding ridiculous, a true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.”
~ Ernesto Che Guevara

Iqbal Masih, who as a young boy from Pakistan spoke out against child labor, was assassinated. (1995)

“Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.”
~ Grace Abbott

“In the future, human rights will be increasingly a universal criterion for designing ethical systems.”
~ Mahnaz Afkhami

Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto staged an armed revolt against the Nazi SS troops. (1943)

Miners in Ludlow, Colorado, who were seeking recognition for their United Mine Workers Union, were attacked by National Guardsmen, who had been paid by the mining company. Seven adults and 12 children were killed. (1914)

“Democracy is not the law of the majority, but the protection of the minority.”
~ Albert Camus

The day the world’s nations guaranteed asylum (Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees) to those persecuted on account of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. (1954)

“You can imprison a man, but not an idea.
You can exile a man, but not an idea.
You can kill a man, but not an idea.”
~ Benazir Bhutto

“Extremism can flourish only in an environment where basic governmental social responsibility for the welfare of the people is neglected.”
~ Benazir Bhutto

“A people inspired by democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity will turn their back decisively against extremism.”
~ Benazir Bhutto

Federal troops seized the Chicago offices of Montgomery Ward and removed its chairman after his refusal to obey President Roosevelt’s order to recognize a CIO union. (1944)

“The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.”
~ Thomas Donahue

Birthday of Oskar Schindler, who protected 1200 Jews by employing them in his factory during the Nazi occupation. (1908)

Remembrance day for Sufi saint Haji Bektash, who initiated women into his order equally with men and advocated gender equality in Islamic society.

Palestinian Jews declared their independence from British rule and established the new state of Israel. (1948)

The day Pope John Paul II affirmed that capitalism must be tempered by social justice, and restrained by human rights and environmental laws. (1991)

“Doesn’t the world see the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have been living in exile or in refugee camps for the past 60 years?
No state, no home, no identity, no right to work.
Doesn’t the world see this injustice?”
~ Ismail Haniyeh

World Press Freedom Day
– in recognition of the importance of a worldwide free, independent, pluralistic media, as a fundamental human right.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Cinco de Mayo
– day to mourn Hispanic victims of exploitation,
make peace, and celebrate empowerment of Hispanic Americans.

“When black, white, and Hispanic people stand together for justice, we win.”
~ Bernie Sanders

“Denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.”
~ Philip Gourevitch

“We have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society.
Though racism may be less blatant now…its existence is undeniable.”
~ Al Sharpton

Birthday of abolitionist leader John Brown, who led an attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1859 to secure weapons for his ‘army of emancipation’ to liberate slaves. (1800)

Theodore Parker, a Unitarian slavery abolitionist and social justice activist, passed on. (1860)

“Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is at stake here. A lot of work still remains.”
~ Kailash Satyarthi

Soviet Russia lifted its blockade of Berlin,
which then allowed American and British planes
to fly 278,000 missions over 462 days
delivering 2.3 million tons of food, coal, and medical supplies
to two million isolated West Berliners. (1949)

The ugliest thing in America is greed,
the lust for power and domination,
the lunatic ideology of perpetual Growth - with a capital G.”
~ Edward Abbey

“No struggle can ever succeed
without women participating side by side with men.”
~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah

“We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.”
~ Will Rogers

“American preaches integration and practices segregation.”
~ Malcolm X

The day the Supreme Court concluded that ethnic-based segregation of schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. (1954)

“Segregation is that which is forced upon an inferior by a superior.
Separation is done voluntarily by two equals.”
~ Malcolm X

Birthday of Malcolm X, black nationalist and civil rights activist. (1925)

The day the Supreme Court concluded that discrimination against lesbians and gays violated the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. (1996)

Cultural Diversity Day

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.”
~ Maya Angelou

Birthday of Arabella Mansfield, the first American female attorney, who was instrumental in the founding of the Iowa Suffrage Society in 1870. (1846)

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently,
together.”
~ Malcolm Forbes

“Women and cats will do as they please,
and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
~ Robert Heinlein

“As a civil rights leader, Mrs. King’s vision of racial peace and non-violent social change was a fortifying staple in advancing the civil rights movement.”
~ James T. Walsh

Birthday of Hubert H. Humphrey, who championed civil rights and ran for president in 1968, losing to Richard Nixon. (1911)

The day Amnesty International was founded by London lawyer Peter Berenson, who worked to free prisoners of conscience, stop torture and the death penalty, and guarantee human rights for women. (1961)

“You can’t reconcile being pro-life on abortion and pro-death on the death penalty.”
~ N.T. Wright

“The purpose of torture is not getting information.
It’s about spreading fear.”
~ Eduardo Galeano

“Opinions are like kittens.
People are always giving them away.”
~ Elizabeth Bear

“Rules of taste enforce structures of power.”
~ Susan Sontag

“In order to effectively advance women’s rights, we need to galvanize a global women’s movement.”
~ Zainab Salbi

Sally Jan Priesand was ordained as the first woman rabbi in the United States. (1972)

Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, where the Chinese government squashed the six-week long protest killing over 3,000 unarmed protestors. (1989)

“To me, feminism is such a simple description:
it’s equal rights, economic rights, political rights, and social rights.”
~ Callie Khouri

Pioneering feminist Susan B. Anthony was arrested, tried, and fined for voting in a presidential election in New York.
African American males had been granted the right to vote two years earlier. (1872)

The US Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraception, guaranteeing the right to privacy, including freedom from government intrusion into matters of birth control. (1965)

“The greatest threat to women (and by extension humanity) is the growth and acceptance of a misogynistic, authoritarian, and violent culture of militarism.”
~ Amina Mama

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.”
~ MLK, Jr.

Equal Pay Act signed into law by President Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program. (1963)

Birthday of American feminist and politician Jeannette Rankin, who was the first woman elected to the US Congress. A reformer and pacifist, she was the only member of Congress to vote against a declaration of war against Japan. (1880)

Civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was active in seeking integration of schools and voter registration for African Americans, was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. (1963)

Christian feast of St. Anthony, guardian of the poor and the powerless, and guide of social justice activists. (1231)

Birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe, American writer who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an anti-slavery novel that provoked a storm of protest and inflamed people in the North against slavery in the South. (1811)

“Weightlessness is a great equalizer.”
~ Sally Ride

Valentina Tereshkova, from Russia, at 26 years of age became the first woman in space. (1963)

The day Saudi Arabian women (and men dressed as women) protested the ban on women driving by driving around Saudi cities. (2011)

Sally Ride, a 32 year old physicist and pilot, became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. (1983)

The day the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution in support of the human rights of GLBT individuals. (2008)

World Refugee Day,
in recognition of the millions of people who are forced to leave their homes, jobs, and countries because of persecution, war, or environmental disaster.

National Aboriginal Day
- in celebration of the unique heritage, diverse cultures, and outstanding achievements
of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples in Canada.

“All, too, will bear in mind…
that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect,
and to violate would be oppression.”
~ Thomas Jefferson

“The only reason that they say,
‘Women and children first’
is to test the strength of the lifeboats.”
~ Jean Kerr

Labor Party deputy Julia Gillard became Australia’s first female Prime Minister. (2010)

The day the Supreme Court recognized that government-sponsored prayer in public schools imposes religion on students and violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. (1962)

The day torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment were outlawed worldwide by the United Nations. (1987)

“Child slavery is a crime against humanity.
Humanity itself is at stake here.”
~ Kailash Satyarthi

First day of the Stonewall riot, which signaled the beginning of the LGBT Movement. (1969)

The Unitarian Universalists became the first major church to approve religious blessings on homosexual unions. (1984)

The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted, which granted the right to all American citizens 18 years and older the right to vote in all federal, state, and local elections. (1971)

Canada Day,
in celebration of the union of diverse peoples, languages, cultures, and religions into one nation. (1867)

The day discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender, and religion was prohibited in public accommodations, employment, and education. (1964)

“The cat seldom interferes with other people’s rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.”
~ Carl Van Vechten

Thomas Jefferson, who ensured that the US Constitution would protect basic rights and liberties, passed on. (1826)

“You must not lose faith in humanity.
Humanity is an ocean;
if a few drops of the ocean are dirty,
the ocean does not become dirty.”
~ Mohandas K Gandhi

“It always seems impossible, until it is done.”
~ Nelson Mandela

Birthday of Leroy (Satchel) Paige, the first African American pitcher in the American League. (1906)

“Human rights that do not apply to everyone are not human rights at all.”
~ Volker Beck

“And is not peace
…basically a matter of human rights
– the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation
– the right to breathe air as nature provided it
– the right of future generations to a healthy existence?”
~ John F. Kennedy

“I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot.”
~ Horace Greeley

“Poverty is not an accident.
Like slavery and apartheid,
it is man made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.”
~ Nelson Mandela

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
~ Nelson Mandela

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
~ MLK, Jr.

Birthday of Woody Guthrie, American folk singer and social activist. (1912)

“I’ve found that the way a person feels about cats - and the way they feel about him or her in return - is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person’s character.”
~ P.C. Cast

Birthday of African American journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells, who was born to slaves. (1862)

Birthday of Angela Merkel, first woman chancellor of Germany. (1954)

The birthday of Nelson Mandela
and the day South Africa’s apartheid was internationally outlawed. (1918, 1976)

The day women demanded recognition of their equality to men in legal, political, economic, religious, and domestic areas as drafted by the Founding Mothers at the Women’s Rights Seneca Falls Convention. (1848)

“There could be a powerful international women’s rights movement if only philanthropists would donate as much to real women as to paintings and sculptures of women.”
~ Nicholas Kristof

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.”
~ Cheris Kramarae/Paula Treichler

“I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women join the unqualified men in running our government.”
~ Frances Farenthold

“Women’s chains have been forged by men, not by anatomy.”
~ Estelle R. Ramey

Birthday of pilot Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and to fly solo from Hawaii to California. (1898)

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.”
~ MLK, Jr.

The day discrimination against the disabled was prohibited in public accommodations and employment. (1990)

“How a society treats its disabled is the true measure of a civilization.”
~ Chen Guangcheng

“There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more.”
~ Robert Hensel

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.”
~ Nelson Mandela

“People must learn to hate.
And if they can learn to hate,
they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
~ Nelson Mandela

“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.”
~ Hippolyte Taine

Slavery was abolished in Jamaica. (1838)

“It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.”
~ MLK, Jr.

Birthday of Maggie Kuhn, who founded the Gray Panthers organization to fight age discrimination and succeeded in the banning of mandatory retirement in most professions. (1905)

Birthday of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim American to serve in US Congress (Minnesota) since 2007. (1963)

“When something bad happens, you have three choices: you can let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”
~ Anonymous

The Voting Rights Act became law, which prevents state and local governments from disenfranchising African-Americans. (1965)

“Thinking isn’t agreeing or disagreeing. That’s voting.”
~ Robert Frost

“If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.”
~ Coretta Scott King

World Indigenous Peoples’ Day

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
~ Chief Seattle

The day that Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, spoke before an audience in the North for the first time and later became a full-time lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. (1841)

Six days of riots occurred in the Watts area of Los Angeles, which was triggered by a white California Highway Patrol officer and African American motorist. Thirty-four deaths resulted and more than 3,000 people were arrested. (1965)

Birthday of Lucy Stone, social worker and non-violent advocate for women’s rights. (1893)

“Baltimore is first city to remove Confederate statues from public spaces following death of social justice activist Heather Heyer by neo-Nazi supporter
two days earlier. (2017)

Woodstock, a collective voice for freedom, socially and spiritually, began three-day concert that attracted over 300,000 young people. (1969)

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set,
then there’d be peace.”
~ John Lennon

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty;
human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
~ Ernest Hemingway

The 19th Amendment, recognition of women’s right to vote, was ratified. (1920)

World Humanitarian Day,
in honor of humanitarian workers,
in particular to those who have lost their lives in service to others.

“Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
~ Desmond Tutu

“But if God had wanted us to think with just our wombs, why did He give us a brain?”
~ Clare Boothe Luce

“I am convinced that Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and others can embrace each other in a common effort to alleviate human suffering....”
~ Jimmy Carter

International Day for the Remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition.

“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can quietly become… a power that can transform the world.”
~ Howard Zinn

Samantha Smith, the 11 year old American girl who symbolized American and Russian hopes for peaceful co-existence as a result of her correspondence with Soviet Russia’s leader Yuri Andropov, died in a plane crash. (1985)

The 19th Amendment, recognition of women’s right to vote, went into effect. (1920)

Birthday of Mother Teresa, who served the poorest of the poor. (1910)

The day of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech on his peaceful march on Washington, DC, in recognition of the rights of African Americans. (1963)

“Peace is the respect for the rights of others.”
~ Benito Juarez

Birthday of civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, the grandson of a Mississippi slave, who was active in the NAACP. (1901)

The day Shays’ Rebellion began as ex-Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays prevented a Massachusett’s court from holding a session in which debtors, mostly poor ex-soldier farmers, were to be tried and likely put in prison. (1786)

“I am supposing, or perhaps only hoping, that our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion, rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.”
~ Howard Zinn

Anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass began his escape from slavery. (1838)

Gender discrimination outlawed worldwide by the United Nations. (1981)

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”
~ Nelson Mandela

Mother Teresa died in Calcutta at age 87, after a life of aiding the sick and poor in India through her Missionaries of Charity order. (1997)

Birthday of Efua Dorkenoo, African women’s rights activist and mother of the global movement to end female genital mutilation. (1949)

Bishop Desmond Tutu became Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, the first black head of South African’s Anglicans. (1986)

International Literacy Day

Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed to recognize each other, paving the way for a possible peaceful end to the hundred year old conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Mideast. (1993)

“Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.”
~ Nelson Mandela

In memory of the 9/11 victims in the United States. (2001)

The day JFK told religious leaders that no one should be subject to religious intolerance or discrimination. (1960)

The day President Bill Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act into law. (1994)

Birthday of Margaret Sanger, non-violent advocate for education, autonomy, and responsibility concerning sexuality, reproduction, and birth control. (1883)

International Day of Democracy

The Episcopalian church (in the US) approved the ordination of women priests and bishops. (1976)

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement began. (2011)

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
~ Mother Teresa

New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote. (1893)

President Obama signed the The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act into law. (2010)

International Day of Peace

President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in territories held by Confederates. (1862)

“Without criticism and reliable, intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern.”
~ Walter Lippmann

President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to enforce racial integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. (1957)

The day that the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, was sworn in to sit on the US Supreme Court. (1981)

“The solution to women’s issues can only be achieved in a free and democratic society in which human energy is liberated, the energy of both women and men together.”
~ Tawakul Karman

“Peace comes from being able to contribute the best...that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone.”
~ Hafsat Abiola

Birthday of Confucius, who taught that societal harmony could be realized when individuals acted with loving care for family, concern for friends and neighbors, benevolence to strangers, and respect for all. (551 BCE)

“The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them.”
~ Gene Roddenberry

“Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.”
~ John Adams

“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
~ Robert Heinlein

International Day of Non-Violence,
as commemorated by the United Nations.

“If we destroy humanity rights and rule of law in the response to terrorism, they have won.”
~ Joichi Ito

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined non-conformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood.”
~ MLK, Jr.

Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh was defeated and killed during the War of 1812.
Regarded as one of the greatest American Indians, Tecumseh was a powerful orator who defended his people against white settlement. (1813)

World Habitat Day,
as commemorated by the United Nations, that recognizes the necessity of sanitary, non-toxic, and environmentally sustainable shelter.

“A clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it.”
~ Dalai Lama

The U.N. General Assembly lifted economic sanctions (imposed in the 1960s) against South Africa following the end of racial apartheid. (1993)

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakastani advocate for the education of girls, survived an assassination attempt on her life when she was only 14 years old. (2012)

“Extremists have shown what frightens them the most: a girl with a book.”
~ Malala Yousafzai

Birthday of Eleanor Roosevelt, advocate for the worldwide recognition of the rights of all. (1884)

Day of 6 Billion (1999)

“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.”
~ Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe

Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, donating the $54,000 in prize money to the Civil Rights movement. (1964)

“I alone cannot change the world,
but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
~ Mother Teresa

World Food Day,
the day to recognize the necessity of affordable, healthy, and environmentally sustainable food for all as commemorated by the United Nations.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

“Think about what really matters to you. Think about what you want to really matter to you.”
~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“We cannot all succeed
when half of us are held back.”
~ Malala Yousafzai

“It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionists (Jews) do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews.”
~ Albert Einstein

Thousands of anti-war protesters stormed the Pentagon during a rally against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. (1967)

“Peace is the only battle worth waging.”
~ Albert Camus

“If we are going to see real development in the world, then our best investment is women.”
~ Desmond Tutu

“With guns you can kill terrorists,
with education you can kill terrorism.”
~ Malala Yousafzai

“In separateness lies the world’s great misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength.”
~ Buddha

“I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth, not ruled by it.”
~ Pope Francis

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt. (1978)

Make a Difference Day

Helen Anderson became the first woman ambassador, appointed by President Harry Truman, to Denmark. (1949)

“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”
~ Albert Einstein

Day of 7 Billion (2011)

The Boston Female Medical School, the first medical school for women, was founded by Samuel Gregory with initially just 12 students. (1848)

The day the first openly gay man, Gene Robinson, was consecrated an Episcopalian bishop. (2003)

White South Africans voted to allow Indians and “Coloreds” (persons of mixed race) limited power in the government, but continued to exclude blacks. (1983)

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. (1995)

“Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are -- a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer.”
~ Ha-Joon Chang

“There is no duty more important than ensuring that [children’s] rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want, and that they grow up in peace.”
~ Kofi Annan

World Community Day:
the day for celebrating the unity behind diversity.

Birthday of Dorothy Day, activist for peace, economic justice, and workers’ rights, and founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. (1897)

The fall of the Berlin Wall was opened up after standing for 28 years as a symbol of the Cold War. The 27.9 mile wall had been constructed in 1961. (1989)

“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this rotten system.”
~ Dorothy Day

Lucretia Mott, Quaker preacher and non-violent advocate for the rights of women and African Americans, passed on. (1880)

Birthday of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, non-violent advocate for womens’ rights. (1815)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. (1956)

“When I dare...to use my strength in the service of vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
~ Audre Lorde

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was formed. Five years later, the organization was renamed the American Federation of Labor (AFL). (1881)

International Day for Tolerance,
as commemorated by the United Nations, to promote harmony in diversity.

The United Nations opened its first war crimes tribunal since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials following World War II to examine mass murders in Yugoslavia characterized as ethnic cleansing. (1993)

South Africa adopted a new constitution, which provided basic civil rights, after more than 300 years of white majority rule. (1993)

New Jersey suffragists attempted to vote in the presidential election to test the 14th Amendment. 172 suffragists, including four African American women, were turned away. Instead they cast their votes in a women’s-only ballot box. (1868)

Transgender Remembrance Day

The Anglican Church of Australia voted to allow women to become priests. The largest of the dioceses voted against the bill, however, it still received the required two-thirds approval. (1992)

“If you want something said, ask a man;
if you want something done, ask a woman.”
~ Margaret Thatcher

The Nuremberg War Crime Trials began in which 24 former leaders of Nazi Germany were charged with conspiracy to wage wars of aggression, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. (1945)

“We know that a peaceful world cannot long exist, one-third rich and two-thirds hungry.”
~ Jimmy Carter

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Day, as commemorated by the United Nations.

Sojourner Truth, Christian preacher and non-violent advocate for the rights of women and African Americans, passed on. (1883)

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.”
~ Thomas Jefferson

Lady Nancy Astor was elected as the first female in the British House of Commons. (1919)

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, as commemorated by the United Nations.

The day Shirley Chisholm, the first African American women, was elected to US Congress. (1968)

Benazir Bhutto was nominated to become prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman to govern a Muslim nation. (1988)

“Without justice,
there can be no love.”
~ Bell Hooks

International
Day of Disabled Persons

“The time is always right
to do what is right.”
~ MLK, Jr.

The AFL-CIO was founded after their two separate labor organizations joined together following 20 years of rivalry, thus becoming the leading advocate for trade unions in the U.S. (1955)

Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

“The establishment will irritate you…to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”
~ John Lennon

Former Beatle musician John Lennon was assassinated in New York City. (1980)

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. (1948)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. (1948)

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers….”
~ Black Elk

Saudi Arabian women vote for first time in history and win 21 seats. (2015)

There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.”
~ Susan B. Anthony

British women voted for the first time in a general election and were allowed to run for office. (1918)

The Bill of Rights, guaranteeing fundamental rights to all, became part of the US Constitution. (1791)

Birthday of anthropologist Margaret Mead, who was known for her outspoken manner regarding social issues, such as women’s rights, child rearing, population control and world hunger. (1901)

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”
~ Kalu Kalu

The day Arab Spring began, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests, riots, and civil wars in the Arab world. (2010)

Birthday of historian Carter Woodson, who introduced black studies to American colleges and universities. (1875)

The Montgomery bus boycott ended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling integrating the Montgomery bus system was implemented. (1956)

“The true test of humanity is in
how humane we are to each other.”
~ Rob McDowall

“And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”
~ MLK, Jr.

“We should be inspired by people…who show that human beings can be kind, brave, generous, beautiful, strong – even in the most difficult circumstances.”
~ Rachel Corrie

“Hope will never be silent.”
~ Harvey Milk

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Violation of human rights anywhere in the world is a powerful threat to human rights all over the world.”
~ Rajani Kant Indra

“What greater gift
than the love of a cat?”
~ Charles Dickens

The day the first woman, Mother Ludmila Javorova, was ordained a Catholic priest (without Vatican authority). (1970)

In memory of the Battle at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, in which the U.S. 7th Cavalry massacred more than 200 Native American (Sioux) men, women and children. (1890)

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
~ Thomas Edison

“A nation’s greatness is measured
by how it treats its weakest members.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi