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