1.
Robert E. Lee
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Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, during the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the field army in 1862 he soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles. Lees strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat, Lees aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865. By this time, Lee had assumed command of the remaining Southern armies. Lee rejected the proposal of an insurgency against the Union. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, an icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy to some. But his popularity even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. Barracks at West Point built in 1962 are named after him, Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III, Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter. His birth date has traditionally been recorded as January 19,1807, one of Lees great grandparents, Henry Lee I, was a prominent Virginian colonist of English descent. Lees family is one of Virginias first families, descended from Richard Lee I, Esq. the Immigrant, Lees mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. Lees father, a planter, suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments. Little is known of Lee as a child, he spoke of his boyhood as an adult. Nothing is known of his relationship with his father who, after leaving his family, mentioned Robert only once in a letter. In 1811, the family, including the newly born child, Mildred, moved to a house on Oronoco Street, still close to the center of town. In 1812, Harry Lee was badly injured in a riot in Baltimore
2.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
3.
Mississippi
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Mississippi /ˌmɪsᵻˈsɪpi/ is a state in the southern region of the United States, with part of its southern border formed by the Gulf of Mexico. Its western border is formed by the Mississippi River, the state has a population of approximately 3 million. It is the 32nd most extensive and the 32nd most populous of the 50 United States, located in the center of the state, Jackson is the state capital and largest city, with a population of approximately 175,000 people. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, where slaves worked on cotton plantations. After the war, the bottomlands to the interior were cleared, by the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the Deltas property owners, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after a financial crisis. Clearing altered the Deltas ecology, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi, much land is now held by agribusinesses. The states catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States, since the 1930s and the Great Migration, Mississippi has been majority white, albeit with the highest percentage of black residents of any U. S. state. From the early 19th century to the 1930s, its residents were mostly black, whites retained political power through Jim Crow laws. In 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, the highest percentage of African Americans in any U. S. state, since gaining enforcement of their voting franchise in the late 1960s, most African Americans support Democratic candidates in local, state and national elections. Conservative whites have shifted to the Republican Party, African Americans are a majority in many counties of the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, an area of historic settlement during the plantation era. Since 2011 Mississippi has been ranked as the most religious state in the country, the states name is derived from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary. Settlers named it after the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, in addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Mississippi is entirely composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains,807 feet above sea level. The lowest point is sea level at the Gulf coast, the states mean elevation is 300 feet above sea level. Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, the coastal plain is generally composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast have somewhat higher elevations, yellow-brown loess soil is found in the western parts of the state. The northeast is a region of black earth that extends into the Alabama Black Belt. The coastline includes large bays at Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, the northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta, a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain
4.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
5.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
6.
Army of Northern Virginia
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It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac. The name Army of Northern Virginia referred to its area of operation. The Army originated as the Army of the Potomac, which was organized on June 20,1861, on July 20 and July 21, the Army of the Shenandoah and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the Army of the Northwest were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17,1862, the Army of the Potomac was renamed Army of Northern Virginia on March 14. The Army of the Peninsula was merged into it on April 12,1862, Robert E. Lees biographer, Douglas S. Freeman, asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1,1862. However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Joseph E. Johnston, his predecessor in command, prior to that date. In addition to Virginians, it included regiments from all over the Confederacy, some from as far away as Georgia, the first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia was General P. G. T. Beauregard from June 20 to July 20,1861 and his forces consisted of six brigades, with various militia and artillery from the former Department of Alexandria. During his command, Gen. Beauregard is noted for creating the flag of the army. The flag was designed due to confusion during battle between the Confederate Stars and Bars flag and the flag of the United States, the following day this army fought its first major engagement in the First Battle of Manassas. With the merging of the Army of the Shenandoah, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston took command from July 20,1861, First Corps – commanded by General P. G. T. Magruder Reserve – commanded by Maj. Gen. G. W. Smith Under the command of Johnston, on October 22,1861, the Department of Northern Virginia was officially created, officially ending the Army of the Potomac. The Department comprised three districts, Aquia District, Potomac District, and the Valley District, in April 1862 the Department was expanded to include the Departments of Norfolk and the Peninsula. Gen. Maj. Gen. Gustavus Woodson Smith commanded the ANV on May 31,1862, with Smith seemingly having a nervous breakdown, President Jefferson Davis drafted orders to place Gen. Robert E. Lee in command the following day. In the first year of his command, Lee had two principal subordinate commanders, the right wing of the army was under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet and the left wing under Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. These wings were redesignated as the First Corps and Second Corps on November 6,1862. Following Jacksons death after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee reorganized the army into three corps on May 30,1863, under Longstreet, Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, and Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill. A Fourth Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, was organized on October 19,1864, on April 8,1865, the commanders of the first three corps changed frequently in 1864 and 1865
7.
Confederate Memorial Day
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Confederate Memorial Day, also called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas, is a public holiday observed by the U. S. The day is marked by observances in many other states. It is observed on April 26 in most Southern states to recall the surrender of their last major field army at Bennett Place on that date in 1865, the war officially ended with the signing of Presidential Proclamation 157 on August 20,1866. In the spring of 1866 the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia, mary Ann Williams, the association secretary, was directed to pen a letter inviting ladies associations in every Southern state to join them in the observance. The actual date for the holiday was selected by Elizabeth Rutherford Ellis and she chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General Johnstons surrender to Major-General Sherman at Bennett Place. For many in the South, that date in 1865 marked the end of the civil war, in a few places, most notably Columbus, Mississippi and Macon, Georgia, Union graves were decorated during the first observance. The day was referred to as Memorial Day by the Baltimore Sun on May 8,1866 after the ladies organization that started it. The name Confederate Memorial Day was not used until the northern observance was initiated in 1868, the GAR eventually adopted the name Memorial Day at their national encampment in 1882. Many theories have offered as to how Logan became aware of the southern tradition he imitated in 1868. In her autobiography, his wife claims she told him about it after a trip to Virginia in the spring of that year and his secretary and his adjutant also claim they told him about it. John Murray of Waterloo, New York claims it was he who inspired Logan in 1868. Bellware and Gardiner, however, offer proof that Logan was aware of the southern tributes long before any of them had a chance to mention it to him. ”In Alabama and it is a public holiday and state offices are closed. In Florida, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on April 26, when it falls upon a Sunday, the public holiday will be observed on the following Monday. In Georgia, the holiday celebrated on April 26 and known as Confederate Memorial Day was observed on the Monday prior to or on April 26, the state capitol and state agencies are closed, as on all state holidays. In 2016, the name Confederate Memorial Day was dropped and April 26 was observed on Monday April 25, in Mississippi, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday in April. It is a holiday and state executives may close their respective offices. In South Carolina, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on May 10, if on a Saturday, it shifts to Friday. If Sunday, it will be observed the following Monday, in Louisiana, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on June 3rd
8.
Lee-Jackson Day
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Lee–Jackson Day is a holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the U. S. for the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. The original holiday, created in 1889, celebrated Lees birthday, jacksons name was added to the holiday in 1904. In 1983, the holiday was merged with the new Federal holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and this merger was reversed in 2000. Lee–Jackson Day is currently observed on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, typical events include a wreath-laying ceremony with military honors, a Civil War themed parade, symposia, and a gala ball. State offices are closed for both holidays, some localities, such as Charlottesville, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Newport News, Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Winchester, choose not to observe Lee–Jackson Day. Confederate History Month Southern United States Lee–Jackson–King Day Robert E. Lee Day
9.
Southern United States
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The Southern United States, commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. The South does not fully match the geographic south of the United States, arizona and New Mexico, which are geographically in the southern part of the country, are rarely considered part, while West Virginia, which separated from Virginia in 1863, commonly is. Some scholars have proposed definitions of the South that do not coincide neatly with state boundaries, while the states of Delaware and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia permitted slavery prior to the start of the Civil War, they remained with the Union. However, the United States Census Bureau puts them in the South, usually, the South is defined as including the southeastern and south-central United States. The region is known for its culture and history, having developed its own customs, musical styles, and cuisines, the Southern ethnic heritage is diverse and includes strong European, African, and some Native American components. Since the late 1960s, black people have many offices in Southern states, especially in the coastal states of Virginia. Historically, the South relied heavily on agriculture, and was rural until after 1945. It has since become more industrialized and urban and has attracted national and international migrants, the American South is now among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Houston is the largest city in the Southern United States, sociological research indicates that Southern collective identity stems from political, demographic, and cultural distinctiveness from the rest of the United States. The region contains almost all of the Bible Belt, an area of high Protestant church attendance and predominantly conservative, indeed, studies have shown that Southerners are more conservative than non-Southerners in several areas, including religion, morality, international relations and race relations. Apart from its climate, the experience in the South increasingly resembles the rest of the nation. The arrival of millions of Northerners and millions of Hispanics meant the introduction of cultural values, the process has worked both ways, however, with aspects of Southern culture spreading throughout a greater portion of the rest of the United States in a process termed Southernization. The question of how to define the subregions in the South has been the focus of research for nearly a century, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes sixteen states. As of 2010, an estimated 114,555,744 people, or thirty-seven percent of all U. S. residents, lived in the South, the nations most populous region. Other terms related to the South include, The Old South, the New South, usually including the South Atlantic States. The Solid South, region largely controlled by the Democratic Party from 1877 to 1964, before that, blacks were elected to national office and many to local office through the 1880s, Populist-Republican coalitions gained victories for Fusionist candidates for governors in the 1890s. Includes at least all the 11 former Confederate States, Southeastern United States, usually including the Carolinas, the Virginias, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The Deep South, various definitions, usually including Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, occasionally, parts of adjoining states are included
10.
Statute
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A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city or country. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy, statutes are rules made by legislative bodies, they are distinguished from case law or precedent, which is decided by courts, and regulations issued by government agencies. Statute law is written by a legislative body and signed into law by its executive. Before a statute becomes law in countries, it must be agreed upon by the highest executive in the government. A universal problem encountered by lawmakers throughout human history is how to organize published statutes, such publications have a habit of starting small but growing rapidly over time, as new statutes are enacted in response to the exigencies of the moment. Eventually, persons trying to find the law are forced to sort through a number of statutes enacted at various points in time to determine which portions are still in effect. In turn, in theory, the code will thenceforth reflect the current cumulative state of the law in that jurisdiction. In many nations statutory law is distinguished from and subordinate to constitutional law, statute is also another word for law. The term was adapted from England in about the 18th century, in the Autonomous Communities of Spain, the autonomy statute is a legal document similar to a state constitution in a federated state. The autonomies statutes in Spain have the rank of Ley Organica, leyes Organicas rank between the Constitution and ordinary laws. The name was chosen, among others, to avoid confusion with the term Constitution, in biblical terminology, statute refers to a law given without any reason or justification. The classic example is the statute regarding the Red Heifer. The opposite of a chok is a mishpat, a law given for a reason, e. g. the Sabbath laws, which were given because God created the world in six days. That which upholds, supports or maintains the order of the universe meaning the Law or Natural Law. This is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion, Constitution Legislation Legislature Organic statute Statutory law
11.
Arkansas
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Arkansas is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the states diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States, the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, the largest city in the eastern part of the state is Jonesboro. The largest city in the part of the state is Pine Bluff. The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15,1836, in 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Upon returning to the Union in 1868, the state would continue to suffer due to its reliance on slavery. White rural interests continued to dominate the politics until the Civil Rights Movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, aircraft, poultry, steel, tourism, cotton, and rice. The culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, wright, and physicist William L. McMillan, who was a pioneer in superconductor research, have all lived in Arkansas. The name Arkansas derives from the root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains, the word Arkansas itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw word, akakaze, meaning land of downriver people or the Sioux word akakaze meaning people of the south wind. In 2007, the legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the states name to be Arkansass which has been followed increasingly by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, as well as Tennessee, the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The state line along the Mississippi River is indeterminate along much of the border with Mississippi due to these changes. Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half, the highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta and this dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas
12.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, the holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. King was the spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement. The campaign for a holiday in Kings honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, at first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000, the idea of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday was promoted by labor unions in contract negotiations. Senator Edward Brooke introduced a bill in Congress to make Kings birthday a national holiday, the bill first came to a vote in the U. S. House of Representatives in 1979. However, it fell five short of the number needed for passage. Only two other figures have national holidays in the U. S. honoring them, George Washington, soon after, the King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician Stevie Wonder released the single Happy Birthday to popularize the campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, senators Jesse Helms and John Porter East led opposition to the holiday and questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. Helms criticized Kings opposition to the Vietnam War and accused him of espousing action-oriented Marxism, Helms led a filibuster against the bill and on October 3,1983, submitted a 300-page document to the Senate alleging that King had associations with communists. New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared the document a packet of filth, threw it on the Senate floor, President Ronald Reagan originally opposed the holiday, citing cost concerns. But on November 2,1983, Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, the bill had passed the House of Representatives by a count of 338 to 90, a veto-proof margin. The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20,1986, the bill also established the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to oversee observance of the holiday, and Coretta Scott King, in 2000, Utah became the last state to have a holiday named after King when Human Rights Day was officially changed to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Later that year, Mecham proclaimed the third Sunday in January to be Martin Luther King Jr. /Civil Rights Day in Arizona, in 1990, Arizona voters were given the opportunity to vote on giving state employees a paid MLK holiday. That same year, the National Football League threatened to move Super Bowl XXVII, both measures failed to pass, with only 49% of voters approving Prop 302, the more popular of the two options, although some who voted no on 302 voted yes on Prop 301
13.
National Geographic
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National Geographic is the official magazine of the National Geographic Society. It has been published continuously since its first issue in 1888 and it primarily contains articles about science, geography, history, and world culture. The magazine is known for its thick square-bound glossy format with a rectangular border. The magazine is published monthly, and additional map supplements are also included with subscriptions and it is available in a traditional printed edition and through an interactive online edition. On occasion, special editions of the magazine are issued and this includes a US circulation of 3.5 million. From the 1970s through about 2010 the magazine was printed in Corinth, Mississippi, the current Editor-in-Chief of the National Geographic Magazine is Susan Goldberg. Goldberg is also Editorial Director for National Geographic Partners, overseeing the print and she is responsible for News, Books, National Geographic Traveler magazine, National Geographic History magazine, Maps, and all digital content with the exception of National Geographic Kids. Goldberg reports to Declan Moore, CEO of National Geographic Partners, the first issue of National Geographic Magazine was published on September 22,1888, nine months after the Society was founded. The June 1985 cover portrait of the presumed to be 12-year-old Afghan girl Sharbat Gula, shot by photographer Steve McCurry, in the late 1990s, the magazine began publishing The Complete National Geographic, a digital compilation of all the past issues of the magazine. It was then sued over copyright of the magazine as a work in Greenberg v. National Geographic and other cases. The magazine eventually prevailed in the dispute, and in July 2009 it resumed publishing a compilation containing all issues through December 2008. The compilation was updated to make more recent issues available. National Geographic Kids, the version of the magazine, was launched in 1975 under the name National Geographic World. The January 2017 issue of National Geographic has a nine-year-old transgender girl on the cover, the magazine printed articles on Berlin, de-occupied Austria, the Soviet Union, and Communist China that deliberately downplayed politics to focus on culture. In its coverage of the Space Race, National Geographic focused on the scientific achievement while largely avoiding reference to the connection to nuclear arms buildup. There were also articles in the 1930s, 40s and 50s about the individual states and their resources. Many of these articles were written by longtime staff such as Frederick Simpich, there were also articles about biology and science topics. In later years articles became outspoken on issues such as issues, deforestation, chemical pollution, global warming
14.
The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
15.
Tampa Bay Times
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The Tampa Bay Times, previously named the St. Petersburg Times through 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida. It has won twelve Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, many issues are available through Google News Archive. A daily electronic version is available for the Amazon Kindle. The newspaper traces its origins to the West Hillsborough Times, a newspaper established in Dunedin. At the time, neither St. Petersburg nor Pinellas County existed, the paper was published weekly in the back of a pharmacy and had a circulation of 480. It subsequently changed ownership six times in seventeen years, in December 1884 it was bought by A. C. Turner, who moved it to Clear Water Harbor. In 1892 it moved to St. Petersburg, and by 1898 it was renamed the St. Petersburg Times. The Times became bi-weekly in 1907, and began six days a week in 1912. Paul Poynter, an originally from Indiana, bought the paper in September 1912 and converted to a seven-day paper. Pauls son, Nelson Poynter, became editor in 1939 and took majority control of the paper in 1947, Nelson Poynter controlled the paper until his death in 1978, when he willed the majority of the stock to the non-profit Poynter Institute. In November 1986, the Evening Independent was merged into the Times, Poynter was succeeded by Eugene Patterson, Andrew Barnes, Paul Tash and Neil Brown. On January 1,2012, the St, as the newly rechristened Tampa Bay Times, the papers weekday tabloid tbt*, a free daily publication and which used as its subtitle, became just tbt when the name change took place. The St. Pete Times name lives on as the name for the Times neighborhood news sections in southern Pinellas County, serving communities from Largo southward. The Times has also been an opponent to the Church of Scientology, since the churchs acquisition of the Fort Harrison Hotel in 1975. The Times has published reports and series critical of the church and its current leader. The newspaper operates PolitiFact. com, a project in which its reporters and editors fact-check statements by members of Congress, the site also includes an Obameter, tracking U. S. President Barack Obamas performance with regard to his campaign promises. List of newspapers in Florida Media in the Tampa Bay Area James F. Tracy, strikebusting in St. Petersburg, Nelson Poynters Postwar Assault on Union Printers. What will happen to the Tampa Bay Times, official website Todays Tampa Bay Times front page at the Newseum website PolitiFact. com website
16.
The Birmingham News
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The Birmingham News is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications, and was a newspaper from its founding through September 30,2012. The next day, the News and its two sister Alabama newspapers, the Press-Register in Mobile and The Huntsville Times, moved to a thrice-weekly print-edition publication schedule, the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, also an Advance newspaper, also went to thrice-weekly on the same day. The Birmingham News was launched on March 14,1888 by Rufus N. Rhodes as The Evening News, newspapers joined with industrial tycoons, academics and real-estate speculators in relentless boosterism of the new city. Rhodes was working as editor of the Daily Herald when he found his campaign for a viaduct spanning the Railroad Reservation dividing Birminghams north and south opposed by his publisher. He determined to out on his own and launched the News with the slogan Great is Birmingham. The News Bridge was dedicated on July 4,1891, deemed by his paper the grandest of all municipal achievements of great and glorious Birmingham. The News circulation grew from 628 in 1888 to over 7000 in 1891, the name was changed from The Evening News to The Daily News and then, in 1895, The Birmingham News. The newspaper continued to grow, reaching a circulation of 17,000 in 1909, staunchly progressive in its political stance, the News supported a straight-ticket Democrat platform in election seasons and championed progressive causes such as prohibition. The News led the drumbeat for the Greater Birmingham movement to annex suburban communities. The successful campaign caused the population of the City of Birmingham to grow from 40,000 in 1900 to 138,685 in 1910 and that same year, Rhodes died and was succeeded by his vice-president and general manager, Victor H. Hanson. Hanson, only 33 years old, was already an accomplished newspaperman, having at age 11 founded the City Item in Macon, Georgia, in direct competition with the morning Age-Herald, the News began a Sunday edition in 1912. In 1917 the News moved to a new six-story Jacobean-style office building on the corner of 4th Avenue North and 22nd Street. At the time of the move, the News published this opinion, The News is proud of its new home, publishers from other cities have been kind enough to say that nowhere in the land was there a more adequate, convenient and efficient newspaper plant. Many thousands of dollars have been expended with that end in view, a year later the paper made good use of its new space by purchasing the rival Birmingham Ledger, increasing the size of its staff to 748 and its circulation to 60,000. In 1927 the Birmingham Age-Herald was sold to Hanson, who continued publishing both papers, the News press printed both papers and handled advertising and subscriptions sales while the editorial and reporting staffs remained independent. The agreement lasted until the Post-Herald ceased publication in September 2005, leaving the News as Birminghams only daily newspaper. In 1956, the Hanson family sold the News to S. I. Newhouse Sr. s Advance Publications in New York for $18 million, the largest sum that had been paid at the time for a daily newspaper
17.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
18.
New Year's Day
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New Years Day, also called simply New Years or New Year, is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar. In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, other global New Years Day traditions include making New Years resolutions and calling ones friends and family. Mesopotamia instituted the concept of celebrating the new year in 2000 BC, celebrated new year around the time of the vernal equinox, the early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March and that the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were positioned as the seventh through tenth months. Roman legend usually credited their second king Numa with the establishment of the months of January and February and these were first placed at the end of the year, but at some point came to be considered the first two months instead. The January Kalends came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the new consuls in 153 BC. Romans had long dated their years by these consulships, rather than sequentially, still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for January 1s new status. Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings, in AD567, the Council of Tours formally abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. These days were also astronomically and astrologically significant since, at the time of the Julian reform, March 25 had been understood as the spring equinox and December 25 as the winter solstice. Medieval calendars nonetheless often continued to display the months running from January to December, among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts on the first day of the new year. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius, who warned the Flemish and Dutch, make vetulas, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks. Because of the leap year error in the Julian calendar, the date of Easter had drifted backward since the First Council of Nicaea decided the computation of the date of Easter in 325, by the sixteenth century, the drift from the observed equinox had become unacceptable. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared the Gregorian calendar widely used today, the Gregorian calendar reform also restored January 1 as New Years Day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752, until then, the British Empire – and its American colonies – still celebrated the new year on 25 March. Most nations of Western Europe officially adopted 1 January as New Years Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian Calendar, in Tudor England, New Years Day, along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide. There, until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, Pope Gregory acknowledged 1 January as the beginning of the new year according to his reform of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar
19.
United States presidential inauguration
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The inauguration of the President of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of a president of the United States. This ceremony takes place for new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term. Since 1937, it has taken place on January 20, which is 72 to 78 days after the November presidential election, the term of a president commences at noon on that day, when the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president. However, when January 20 falls on a Sunday, the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president on that day privately and then again in a ceremony the next day, on Monday. The most recent presidential inauguration ceremony was the swearing in of Donald Trump to a term of office on Friday. However, over the years, various traditions have arisen that have expanded the inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to an event, including parades. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has held at the west front of the United States Capitol. Other swearing-in ceremonies have taken place at the Capitols east portico, inside the Old Senate Chamber, the House chamber, additionally, on two occasions—in 1817 and 1945—they were held at other locations in Washington, D. C. Although the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the oath of office. Since 1789, the oath has been administered at 58 scheduled public inaugurations, by 15 chief justices, one associate justice, when a new president assumed office under these circumstances the inauguration is kept low key, and conducted without pomp or fanfare. The first inauguration, that of George Washington, took place on April 30,1789, all subsequent inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U. S. The exception to this pattern being those years in when March 4 fell on a Sunday, when it did, the public inauguration ceremony would take place on Monday, March 5. This happened on four occasions, in,1821,1849,1877, Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since. A similar Sunday exception and move to Monday is made around this date as well, there is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees or students who are not regularly scheduled to work or attend school on Inauguration Day. Most presidential inaugurations since 1801 have been held in Washington D. C. at the Capitol Building, prior inaugurations were held, first at Federal Hall in New York City, and then at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each city was, at the time, the nations capital, the location for James Monroes 1817 swearing in was moved to the Old Brick Capitol in Washington due to on-going restoration work at the Capitol building following the War of 1812. Three other inaugurations—Franklin D. Roosevelts fourth, Harry S. Trumans first, Presidential inaugurations have traditionally been outdoor public ceremonies. Andrew Jackson, in 1829, was the first of 35 held on the east front of the Capitol
20.
Stephen Foster Memorial Day
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Stephen Foster Memorial Day is a United States Federal Observance Day observed on January 13. §140, Stephen Foster Memorial Day celebrates the life of American songwriter Stephen Foster, the date commemorates date that Foster died. The law took effect on November 2,1966, and the day was first observed in January 1967
21.
The Eighth (United States)
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The Eighth was a federal holiday in the United States from 1828 until 1861. It honored the Battle of New Orleans, which place on January 8,1815, with Tennessees Andrew Jackson leading a successful battle against regular British soldiers. The holiday was celebrated widely across the US South after this battle in the War of 1812. The Eighth became a national holiday in 1828, following Jacksons election as President. The Eighth continued as a national holiday from 1828 until the advent of the American Civil War. The holiday remains largely forgotten by the American public, as it was the final war waged against England, it turns out to be Americas second independence. Historians recalled that celebrations were larger than Christmas and was surpassed by Independence Day. Public holidays in the United States Federal holidays in the United States
22.
Super Bowl Sunday
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Super Bowl Sunday is the day on which the Super Bowl, the annual championship for the National Football League, is played. It is usually on the last Sunday in January or the first Sunday in February and is referred to as an unofficial national holiday. The 51st annual event, Super Bowl LI, occurred on February 5,2017, festivities for Super Bowl Sunday typically involve groups of people gathering to watch the game. Both Super Bowl Sunday and Super Sunday are registered trademarks of the National Football League, although not an official holiday, Super Bowl Sunday is an occasion when many families and friends gather together to watch the game, including those who are not normally football fans. Although sports bars have historically been busy on Super Bowl Sunday in the past and this is due in part to the increasing size of home televisions in the United States as well as the attempts of budget conscious consumers to save money. Large amounts of food and alcohol are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, the event is the second-largest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving, and some police departments have noticed a dramatic increase in drunk driving on Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday food is served buffet style, rather than as a sit-down meal. Foods traditionally eaten on Super Bowl Sunday include buffalo wings, chili, baby back ribs, dipping sauces, pizza, many pizza delivery businesses see their order numbers double as roughly 60 percent of the take out ordered on Super Bowl Sunday is pizza. Roughly 28,000,000 pounds of chips,1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8,000,000 pounds of guacamole are consumed during the Super Bowl
23.
Black History Month
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It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October. From the events initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the teaching of the history of American blacks in the nations public schools. C. The American Indian left no continuous record and he did not appreciate the value of tradition, and where is he today. The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself, in spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization. Negro History Week was met with enthusiastic response, it prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday. On 21 February 2016, 106-year Washington D. C. resident, when asked by the president why she was there, Virginia said, A black president. And I’m here to celebrate black history, Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later and he urged Americans to seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1987 and it was first celebrated in London. In 2008, Senator Donald Oliver moved to have the Senate officially recognize Black History Month, Black History Month often sparks an annual debate about the continued usefulness and fairness of a designated month dedicated to the history of one race. Another criticism is that the celebration is racist, Black celebrities such as actor and director Morgan Freeman and actress Stacey Dash have criticized Black History Month, with Freeman saying, I dont want a Black history month. Freeman has argued there was no White History Month, because white people did not want their history relegated to just one month. Board of Education and the Black History Month Syndrome, Harvard Blackletter Law Journal, C. G. Woodson, Negro History Week, Journal of Negro History, vol. Library of Congress Black History Month Website Official UK Black History Month Website Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada Black History Month website Youmanity and Black History Month
24.
Washington's Birthday
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It can occur on the 15th through the 21st of February inclusive. Colloquially, the day is now widely known as Presidents Day and is often an occasion to honor all persons who have served as president. The day is a holiday in most states, with official names including Washingtons Birthday, Presidents Day, Presidents Day. Depending upon the law, the state holiday might officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Abraham Lincoln. However, Presidents Day is not always a term and might refer to only a selection of presidents. Several states honor presidents with official state holidays that do not fall on the third Monday of February, in Massachusetts, the state officially celebrates Washingtons Birthday on the same day as the Federal holiday. In New Mexico, Presidents Day, at least as a state-government paid holiday, is observed on the Friday following Thanksgiving, George Washington was officially born on February 11,1731. Consequently, by the 1730s, the Julian calendar used by Britain, furthermore, the British civil year began on 25 March rather than 1 January, so that dates in February belonged to the preceding year. Since, during the 1700s, February 11 under the Julian calendar would fall as February 22 on the Gregorian, the federal holiday honoring Washington was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1879 for government offices in Washington and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. As the first federal holiday to honor an American president, the holiday was celebrated on Washingtons actual birthday, on January 1,1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This date places it between February 15 and 21, which makes the name Washingtons Birthday in some sense a misnomer, since it never occurs on Washingtons actual birthday, the purpose was not to honor any particular President but to honor the office of the Presidency. It was first thought that March 4, the inauguration day. However, the bill recognizing the March 4 date was stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and that committee felt that, because of its proximity to Lincolns and Washingtons Birthdays, three holidays so close together would be unduly burdensome. During this time, however, the Governors of a majority of the states issued proclamations declaring March 4 to be Presidents Day in their respective jurisdictions. By the mid-1980s, with a push from advertisers, the term Presidents Day began its public appearance, in Washingtons adopted hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, celebrations are held throughout the month of February. Until the late 1980s, corporate businesses generally closed on this day, some public transit systems have also gone to regular schedules on the day. Many colleges and universities hold regular classes and operations on Presidents Day, consequently, some schools, which used to close for a single day for both Lincolns and Washingtons birthday, now often close for the entire week as a mid-winter recess. For example, the New York City school district began doing so in the 1990s, today, the February holiday has become well known for being a day in which many stores, especially car dealers, hold sales
25.
Valentine's Day
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Valentines Day, also called Saint Valentines Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an annual holiday celebrated on February 14. According to legend, during his imprisonment, Saint Valentine healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, the day first became associated with romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery. In Europe, Saint Valentines Keys are given to lovers as a romantic symbol, Valentines Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards, Saint Valentines Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine, the Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was added to the calendar of saints by Pope Galesius in 496 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, other relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273 and he is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni, oruch states that abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe. The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, Saint Valentines head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated. February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentines Day in various Christian denominations, it has, for example, in addition, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. J. C. Cooper, in The Dictionary of Christianity, contemporary records of Saint Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic Persecution in the early 4th century. The same events are found in Bedes Martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person, Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead, because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the jailers daughter and his forty-six member household came to believe in Jesus and were baptized
26.
Groundhog Day
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Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday originating in the United States that is celebrated on February 2. Modern customs of the holiday involve early morning celebrations to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow, Groundhog Day was more widely adopted in the U. S. in 1887. Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit at the time, the largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with Punxsutawney Phil. Groundhog Day, already a recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day. The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries and it has its origins in ancient European weather lore, in which a badger or a sacred bear is the prognosticator, as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendar systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night, other traditions held that spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes winter lasts six weeks until the equinox. However, observation of groundhogs in central New Jersey is that they come out of their burrows in mid-March. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County, the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County, and the Sinnamahoning Valley of Bucks County. In 2017 Groundhog Day was scheduled to be observed at zoos in Moscow, St. Petersburg, according to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period. According to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, the National Climatic Data Center has described the forecasts as on average, inaccurate and stated that groundhog has shown no talent for predicting the arrival of spring, especially in recent years. A similar custom is celebrated among Orthodox Christians in Serbia on February 15 during the feast of celebration of Sretenje or The Meeting of the Lord, thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is a sign that the winter is not over yet. If it is cloudy, it is a sign that the winter is about to end. In Germany, June 27 is Siebenschläfertag, if it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy. It might seem to refer to the Siebenschläfer squirrel, also known as the edible dormouse, but it actually commemorates the Seven Sleepers
27.
Lincoln's Birthday
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Lincolns Birthday is a legal, public holiday in some U. S. states, observed on the anniversary of Abraham Lincolns birth on February 12,1809 In Hodgensville, Kentucky. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and New York observe the holiday, in other states, Lincolns birthday is not celebrated separately, as a stand-alone holiday. The earliest known observance of Lincolns birthday occurred in Buffalo, New York, julius Francis, a Buffalo druggist, made it his lifes mission to honor the slain president. He repeatedly petitioned Congress to establish Lincolns birthday as a legal holiday, the day is marked by traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Kentucky, and at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. The latter has been the site of a ceremony ever since the Memorial was dedicated, since that event in 1922, observances continue to be organized by the Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee and by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. A wreath is laid on behalf of the President of the United States, Lincolns tomb is in Springfield, Illinois. On February 12,2009, the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial commemorated Lincolns 200th birthday in grand fashion. S, as part of Lincolns birthday bicentennial, the U. S. Mint released four new Lincoln cents. The commemorative coins have new designs on the reverse showing stages of his life, the first went into circulation on September 12,2009. The standard portrait of Lincolns head remains on the front. S, New Jersey stopped observing the holiday on September 29,2008 with the enactment of the Public Employee Pension and Benefits Reform Act of 2008. Black History Month has its origin in 19th Century celebrations of Lincolns Birthday by African-American communities in the United States, by the early 20th Century, black communities were annually celebrating Lincolns birthday in conjunction with the birthday of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass on February 14. The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 when historian Carter G, by the 1970s, Negro History Week had become Black History Month. Black History Month has expanded further to Canada, where it is celebrated in February, and to the United Kingdom. Lincolns Birthday was never a U. S. Federal Government holiday, the third Monday in February remains only Washingtons Birthday in Federal Law. Regardless of the name and purpose, celebrations and commemorations on or about the third Monday often include honoring Lincoln. In Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois, while Washingtons Birthday is a holiday, Lincolns Birthday is still a state holiday. California still lists Lincolns Birthday as a holiday, but as of 2009 no longer gives State employees a paid holiday on February 12, several states honor presidents with official state holidays that do not fall on the third Monday of February. In New Mexico, Presidents Day, at least as a state-government paid holiday, is observed on the Friday following Thanksgiving
28.
Ronald Reagan Day
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Ronald Reagan Day has also been declared a state holiday in Wisconsin. For the 100th anniversary of Reagans birthday in 2011, governors in 21 states issued proclamations designating February 6 Ronald Reagan Day, as of February 2017,40 governors have issued proclamations declaring Ronald Reagan Day in their respective states. Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, proclaimed February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in both 2002 and 2003, daviss Republican successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009, and 2010. Senator George Runner introduced Senate Bill 944 on February 3,2010, the bill passed the Senate Education Committee on March 24,2010, by a 7–0 vote. SB944 was approved by the full Senate on April 8,2010, after its approval in the Senate, SB944 was sent to the Legislatures lower house, where the bill passed the Assembly Education Committee on June 16,2010, by a 5–1 vote. The bill was approved by the full Assembly on June 28,2010, on July 19,2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB944 into law, making Ronald Reagan Day a permanent day of special significance in California. The bill declared the first Ronald Reagan Day to be February 6, schwarzeneggers immediate successor, Jerry Brown proclaimed Ronald Reagan Day in 2011, as obligated by SB944. List of honors named for Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Legacy Project Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project
29.
Rosa Parks Day
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Rosa Parks Day is an American holiday in honor of the civil rights leader Rosa Parks. In the U. S. states of California and Missouri it is celebrated on her birthday, in Ohio and Oregon it is celebrated on the day she was arrested, December 1. Rosa Parks Day was created by the California State Legislature and first celebrated in 2000, the holiday was first designated in the U. S. state of Ohio championed by Joyce Beatty, advocate who helped Ohios legislation pass to honor the late leader. It is also celebrated by the Columbus Ohio bus system with a tribute to the late civil rights leader. As of 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon proclaimed Rosa Parks Day official in the state, in 2014, Oregon governor Kitzhaber declared that Oregon will celebrate its first Rosa Parks Day. Rosa Parks was a seamstress by profession, she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Twelve years before her history-making arrest, Parks was stopped from boarding a city bus by driver James F. Blake, Parks vowed never again to ride a bus driven by Blake. As a member of the NAACP, Parks was an investigator assigned to cases of sexual assault, in 1945, she was sent to Abbeville, Alabama, to investigate the gang rape of Recy Taylor. The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a civil rights protest. In 1955, Parks completed a course in Race Relations at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee where nonviolent civil disobedience had been discussed as a tactic, on December 1,1955, Parks was sitting in the frontmost row for black people. When a Caucasian man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back, at that moment, Parks realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. the 381-day boycott almost bankrupted the bus company and effectively made segregation in buses unconstitutional and illegal. Public holidays in the United States Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Malcolm X Day Harriet Tubman Day Susan B, anthony Day International Womens Day Womens Equality Day National Girls and Women in Sports Day Harvey Milk Day
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Susan B. Anthony Day
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Anthony Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of Susan B. Anthony and womens suffrage in the United States, the holiday is February 15—Anthonys birthday. The idea of honoring Susan B, Anthony with a holiday has only been around since 2011 when Representative Carolyn Maloney introduced the Susan B. Today, only the U. S. state of Florida has the holiday enacted with state offices closed, in the state of Wisconsin, Susan B. Anthony Day is also a state holiday, enacted into law April 15,1976, from the 1975 Laws of Wisconsin, Chapter 307. In West Virginia, this day is celebrated on Election Day on even years and this holiday is not celebrated at a national level. In 1985, The Seattle Times reported on a campaign to establish the holiday as one celebrated nationally, the U. S. state of California has also made this day a legal holiday as of 2014. In 2004, New York governor George Pataki signed legislation that made this a holiday in that state, on February 11,2011, Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York introduced the Susan B. Anthony Birthday Act to the 112th session of Congress to honor the birthday as a U. S. national holiday on the third Monday of February, the bill was not enacted and its current status is dead. Anthony is known for her leadership in the campaign for womens right to vote in the United States. She indicated her interest as early as 1852, when she attended the National Women’s Rights Convention in Syracuse and she was also a vigorous opponent of slavery. In 1863, during the American Civil War, she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Womens Loyal National League and it collected nearly 400,000 signatures on petitions to abolish slavery in the largest petition drive in the nations history up to that time. By the end of the Civil War, according to historian Ann D. Gordon, Anthony occupied new social and political territory. She was emerging on the scene as a female leader, something new in American history. By the 1880s, she was among the political figures in the United States. After the Civil War, Anthony worked primarily for womens suffrage and this right was established over the course of several decades, first in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis. The amendment was popularly known as the Susan B, Anthony Amendment in recognition of her leadership in achieving its passage. She died in 1906, fourteen years before it became the law of the land, Anthony Day Merriam Webster definition of Susan B
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Mardi Gras
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Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. Related popular practices are associated with Shrovetide celebrations before the fasting, in countries such as England, Mardi Gras is also known as Shrove Tuesday, which is derived from the word shrive, meaning confess. In many areas, the term Mardi Gras has come to mean the period of activity related to the celebratory events. In some American cities, it is now called Mardi Gras Day, the festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions, such as the one in New Orleans, Louisiana, consider Mardi Gras to stretch the entire period from Twelfth Night to Ash Wednesday. Others treat the final period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras. In earlier times, parades were held on New Years Day, Carnival is an important celebration in Anglican and Catholic European nations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called Shrovetide and it has its popular celebratory aspects, as well. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat, and eggs are traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is an annual LGBT pride parade and festival in Sydney, Australia, attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. In the Belgian city of Binche, the Mardi Gras festival is one of the most important days of the year, around 1000 Gilles dance throughout the city from morning until past dusk, whilst traditional carnival songs play. In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral, Carnival is the most famous Brazilian holiday. During this time, Brazil attracts 70% of its tourists, variations in carnival celebrations are observed throughout the multitude of Brazilian cities. Yet, a commonality observed among them is the incorporation of samba into the celebrations, the southeastern cities of Brazil have massive parades that take place in large sambadromes. The Rio Carnival is where two million people celebrate in the city, the city of Salvador holds a very large carnival celebration where millions of people celebrate the party in the streets of the city with a very big diversity of musical styles together. Cayman Mardi Gras has now been recognised as one of the national festivals. Celebrating the traditional Fat Tuesday, they also host a festive Monday Food Festival as well as an all day EDM Ash Wednesday, the event attracts thousands of attendees during the 3 day festival and includes a line up of international celebrities and performers. The Cayman Mardi Gras Festival is slowly becoming a major tourist attraction to the island nation, Carnaval de Barranquilla is Colombias Mardi Gras celebration. In 2003, it was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral, in the Czech Republic it is a folk tradition to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is called Masopust
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Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days before Easter and can fall as early as February 4 or as late as March 10, Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter, every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christs resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday during six weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday in the preceding week, orthodox Christians do this 40 days in a row. The words used traditionally to accompany this gesture are, Remember that you are dust, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula was introduced and given first place, Repent, and believe in the Gospel. The old formula, based on the spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly. The newer formula makes explicit what was implicit in the old. Originally, the ashes were strewn over mens heads, but, in the Catholic Church the manner of imposing ashes depends largely on local custom, since no fixed rule has been laid down. The Ash Wednesday ritual of the Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, contains The Imposition of Ashes in its Ash Wednesday liturgy. The corresponding Catholic ritual in the Roman Missal for celebration within Mass merely states, Then the Priest places ashes on the head of those present who come to him, and says to each one. The 1969 revision of the Roman Rite inserted into the Mass the solemn ceremony of blessing ashes and placing them on heads, the Book of Blessings contains a simple rite. While the solemn rite would normally be carried out within a church building, while only a priest or deacon may bless the ashes, laypeople may do the placing of the ashes on a persons head. Even in the rite, lay men or women may assist the priest in distributing the ashes. In addition, laypeople take blessed ashes left over after the collective ceremony, at home the ashes are then placed with little or no ceremony. Even those who have been excommunicated and are forbidden to celebrate sacramentals are not forbidden to receive them. After describing the blessing, the rite of Blessing and Distribution of Ashes states, the Catholic Church does not limit distribution of blessed ashes to within church buildings and has suggested the holding of celebrations in shopping centres, nursing homes, and factories. Such celebrations presume preparation of an area and include readings from Scripture and prayers
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Courir de Mardi Gras
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The Courir de Mardi Gras is a traditional Mardi Gras event held in many Cajun communities of south Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Courir de Mardi Gras is Cajun French for Fat Tuesday Run, the rural Mardi Gras celebration is based on early begging rituals, similar to those still celebrated by mummers, wassailers and celebrants of Halloween. As Mardi Gras is the celebration of the day before Lent, celebrants drink and eat heavily. Popular practices include wearing masks, capuchons, and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, drinking alcohol, begging, feasting, whipping, because of violent activities associated with the Ku Klux Klan, Louisiana has a state law prohibiting the wearing of hoods and masks in public. Mardi Gras is one of the few occasions when exceptions are allowed, as are Halloween celebrations, Two HBO series make reference to the tradition. This is similar to other contemporary traditional European customs such as mumming and wassailing which usually occur around Christmas, New Years and these traditions originated in a time when most of the land and money was held by the upper classes. French medieval carnival celebrations also featured contests and races, which may be the origins of the chicken chase associated with the courir, a few of the traditional runs have whipping and penitinece as part of their traditions. These traditions are traced to the Medieval Flagellants, who would hold processions through the streets whipping themselves and sometimes onlookers to beat the sin out of them. Other of the associated with the courir are derived from the folk traditions of Pre-Christian Celtic Europe and are associated with fertility. These traditions were carried to North America by European immigrants during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Cajuns, as they would become known to the rest of the world, have held on to many of their customs, including their language, music, dances. In 1993 documentary film maker Pat Mire chronicled the tradition with his film Dance for a Chicken, The Cajun Mardi Gras. The imagery of the event is represented in work by artists such as Chuck Broussard, Francis Pavy. The increased popularity of Cajun music and culture has led to more nonlocal attention for the event. People escape from ordinary life through the alcohol and the roles they portray in costume, in the early morning the riders or runners or Mardi Gras gather in a central meeting place. As they gather, Le Capitaine and his co-capitaines explain the rules, the Capitaine usually rides on horseback, wears a cape and carries a small flag. After he organizes the troop, the begin to play. Traditions vary in each town with the way it is carried out, some towns have people on horse back, some on trailers and some on foot, and others use a variation of all three methods
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Super Tuesday
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More delegates to the presidential nominating conventions can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar. Thus, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their partys nomination. In fact, convincing wins in Super Tuesday primaries have usually propelled candidates to their partys nomination, Super Tuesday is in either February or March of the presidential election year. During the 2016 election year, Super Tuesday was held on March 1, the particular states holding primaries on Super Tuesday have varied from year to year since each state decides separately. Some years have had more than one Super Tuesday, the phrase Super Tuesday has been used to refer to presidential primary elections since at least 1976. It is a term used by journalists and political pundits. In 2016, this date was dubbed the SEC Primary since many of the participating states are represented in the Southeastern Conference. Tuesday is the day for elections in the United States. State law determines how each parties delegates are chosen in that state including by either an election or a caucus. State governments are free to choose whichever date they want for their states primary or caucus, with the broadened use of the modern presidential primary system, states have tried to increase their influence in the nomination process. One tactic has been to create geographic blocs to encourage candidates to spend time in a region, the 1984 primary season had three Super Tuesdays. Decided on Super Tuesday III were delegates from five states, South Dakota, New Mexico, West Virginia, California, however, Gary Hart maintained that unpledged superdelegates that had previously announced support for Mondale would shift to his side if he swept the Super Tuesday III primary. Once again, Hart committed a faux pas, insulting New Jersey shortly before the primary day. Compounding the problem, when his wife interjected that she got to hold a koala bear, Hart replied that I wont tell you what I got to hold, while Hart won California, he lost New Jersey after leading in polls by as much as 15 points. Mondale secured the majority of delegates from the primaries, leading the way for him to take the Democratic nomination, in the 1984 Republican Party primaries, incumbent President Ronald Reagan was the only candidate to secure delegates. In the 1988 Democratic Party primaries, Southern Democrats came up with the idea of a primary in an effort to nominate a moderate candidate who would more closely represent their interests. However, Dick Gephardt, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis split the Super Tuesday primaries, meanwhile, George H. W. Bush secured most of the delegates in the 1988 Republican Party primaries. From 1996 to 2004, most of these Southern primaries were held the week after Super Tuesday, in 1992, Super Tuesday was on March 10
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Irish-American Heritage Month
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It was first celebrated in 1991. The heritage month is in March to coincide with Saint Patricks Day, heritage Months are usually proclaimed by nations to celebrate centuries of contributions by a group to a country. Saint Patricks Day is a Roman Catholic religious holiday that honors the saint and it has developed in the United States as a celebration of all things Irish. With large ethnic Irish populations, Boston and New York City both claim the worlds first Saint Patricks Day parade, while Philadelphia claims to be the second oldest behind New York City. In New York City, it occurred on 17 March 1762, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the British military protecting the Colonies during the French and Indian War. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman, of Scottish descent, attended the New York Saint Patricks Day parade and this was a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and prejudice to find acceptance in the United States. In 1960 John F. Kennedy was elected as the first Irish American Catholic President, within the authority of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States has also issued a proclamation each year since 1991. Each year in March, the Irish Taoiseach visits the United States for Saint Patricks Day, a Shamrock Ceremony takes place in the morning at the White House where a crystal bowl containing shamrock, a traditional symbol of Ireland, is presented to the President in the Oval Office. This is followed by a Friends of Ireland luncheon hosted by the House Speaker in the U. S. Capitol or the Rayburn House Office Building, the luncheon is attended by the President, Vice President, the Taoiseach, the Speaker, and other officials. In the evening, a Saint Patricks Day Reception takes place at the White House
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Women's History Month
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Womens History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In the United States, Womens History Month traces its beginnings back to the first International Womens Day in 1911, in 1978, the school district of Sonoma, California participated in Womens History Week, an event designed around the week of March 8. In 1979 a fifteen-day conference about womens history was held at Sarah Lawrence College from July 13 until July 29 and it was co-sponsored by Sarah Lawrence College, the Womens Action Alliance, and the Smithsonian Institution. They also agreed to support an effort to secure a National Womens History Week, in February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8,1980, as National Womens History Week. The proclamation stated, From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well, as Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, Women’s History is Women’s Right. It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women’s History Week, March 2–8,1980. I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality - Susan B, anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul. Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for equality under the law for all our people. Carter was referring to the Equal Rights Amendment, which was never ratified, in 1981, responding to the growing popularity of Womens History Week, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a Womens History Week. Congress passed their resolution as Pub. L. 97-28, which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7,1982 as “Women’s History Week. Throughout the next years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as Women’s History Week. Schools across the country began to have their own local celebrations of Womens History Week. By 1986, fourteen states had declared March as Womens History Month, in 1987, after being petitioned by the National Womens History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as Women’s History Month. Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month, since 1988, U. S. presidents have issued annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women’s History Month. State departments of education began to encourage celebrations of Womens History Month as a way to promote equality among the sexes in the classroom. Within a few years, thousands of schools and communities began to celebrate of Womens History Month. They planned engaging and stimulating programs about womens roles in history and society, with support and encouragement from governors, city councils, school boards, and the U. S. Congress
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Saint Patrick's Day
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Saint Patricks Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, cèilidhs, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Saint Patricks Day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is also celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the world, especially in Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia. Saint Patricks Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival, modern celebrations have been greatly influenced by those of the Irish diaspora, particularly those that developed in North America. In recent years, there has been criticism of Saint Patricks Day celebrations for having become too commercialised, Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration and it is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church, according to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. It says that he spent six years working as a shepherd. The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, after making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest. According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity, the Declaration says that he spent many years evangelising in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. Patricks efforts against the druids were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove out of Ireland. Tradition holds that he died on 17 March and was buried at Downpatrick, over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Irelands foremost saint. Todays St Patricks Day celebrations have been influenced by those that developed among the Irish diaspora. Until the late 20th century, St Patricks Day was often a celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions, there are also formal gatherings such as banquets and dances, although these were more common in the past. St Patricks Day parades began in North America in the 18th century, the participants generally include marching bands, the military, fire brigades, cultural organisations, charitable organisations, voluntary associations, youth groups, fraternities, and so on. However, over time, many of the parades have become akin to a carnival
