JANUARY

6- Epiphany/ Three Kings Day

8- A.J. Muste’s Birthday (1885)

11- Alice Paul’s Birthday (1885)

12- Bread and Roses (1912)

15-  Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday (1929)

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr By Doreen Rappaport (5-8)

Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song By Andrea Davis Pinkney (8-12)

As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr., and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom By Richard Michelson (6-9)

31- Thomas Merton’s Birthday (1950)

FEBRUARY

1- Greensboro Sit-Ins started in 1960

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down By Andrea Davis Pinkney (7-10)

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, By Carole Boston Weatherford (5-9)

4- Rosa Parks’s birthday (1913)

Rosa, By Nikki Giovanni (6-10)

Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, By Angela Davis Pinkney (6-9)

6- Badshah Khan’s Birthday (1890)

12- Sr Dorothy Stang martyred in Brazil (2005)

13- Protest against the Invasion of Iraq was the largest protest ever (2003)

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq, By Jeanette Winter

18- Audre Lorde’s Birthday (1934)

20- Fredrick Douglas’s Birthday (1895)

Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History, By Walter Myers (5-10)

21- John Lewis’ birthday (1940)

March (trilogy), By John Lewis

Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis, By Jabari Asim (4-8)

26- Trayvon Martin killed (2012)

MARCH

8- International Women’s Day

10- Harriet Tubman died (1913)

Follow the Drinking Gourd, By Jeanette Winter (4-8)

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, By Carole Boston Weatherford, Kadir Nelson (5-8)

13- Andrew Young’s Birthday (1932)

Child of the Civil Rights Movement, By Paula Young Shelton (4-8)

16- Great Savannah Boycott started in 1960

Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights, By Jim Haskins (5-8)

21- Equinox

– International Day for the Elimination of Racism

22- World Water Day

The Water Walker, By Joanne Robertson (4-7)

The Water Princess, By Susan Verde (5-8)

25- Selma Alabama March in 1965

31- Cesar Chavez’s Birthday (1927)

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, By Kathleen Krull (4-7)

31- International Day of Transgender Visibility

APRIL

 1- Standing Rock Camp Begins (2016)

The Story of Standing Rock, By Diana Crow-Wheel

   – Wangari Maathai’s Birthday (1940)

Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, By Jeanette Winter (4-7)

4- Maya Angelou’s Birthday (1928)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, By Maya Angelou

 – Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed (1968)

7- Billie Holiday’s Birthday (1915)

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song, By Gary Golio (8-12)

10- Rachel Corrie’s Birthday (1979)

– Dolores Huerta’s Birthday (1930)

Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez, By Monica Brown (4-8)

Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers, By Sarah Warren (6-8)

15- Tax Day

22- Earth Day

The Harmony Tree: A Story of Healing and Community, By Randy Woodley (4+)

27- Coretta Scott King’s Birthday (1927)

Coretta Scott, By Ntozake Shange (6-10)

28- William Stringfellow’s Birthday (1928)

MAY

1- May Day/ International Workers Day

¡Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A., By Diana Cohn

2 – Birmingham Children’s Crusade (1963)

The Youngest Marcher, By Cynthia Levinson (5-10)

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March, By Cythia Levinson (12-15)

3- Pete Seeger’s Birthday (1919)

The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete Seeger, By Colin Meloy

8- Feast day Julian of Norwich

9- Daniel Berrigan’s Birthday (1921)

– Peter Maurin’s Birthday (1877)

17- Brown vs Board of Education (1954)

Separate Is Never Equal, By Duncan Tonatiuh (6-9)

17- Catonsville 9 (1968)

19- Malcolm X’s Birthday (1925)

Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X, By Ilyasah Shabazz (6-10)

20- Franz Jagerstatter’s Birthday (1907)

27- Julia Ward Howe’s Birthday (1819)

–  Rachel Carson’s Birthday (1907)

Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World, By Laurie Lawlor

JUNE

9- Feast day of Columba of Iona

11- Canadian Prime Minister Apologies for Residential Schools (2008)

Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Sa, Native American Author, Muscian, and Activist, By Q. L. Pearce, Gina Capaldi

12- Anne Frank’s Birthday (1929)

The Diary of Ann Frank, By Anne Frank

13- First excerpts of Pentagon Papers printed in NY Times, 1971.

14- Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Birthday (1811)

16- Soweto Children’s Uprising in South Africa in 1976

19- Juneteenth

Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, By Virginia Hamilton

20- World Refugee Day

Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush’s Incredible Journey, By Amy Shrodes and Doug Kuntz (4-8)

21- Solstice

26- Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage (2015)

27- Bree Newsome takes down Confederate flag in South Carolina (2015)

The Wedding Portrait, By Innosanto Nagara (6-9)

JULY

7 – Charles Albert Tindley’s Birthday (1851)

We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song, By Debbie Levy (6-9)

12- Malala Yousafzai’s Birthday (1997)

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot, By the Taliban By Malala Yousafzai

Malala’s Magic Pencil, By Malala Yousafzai (5-8)

13 – Black Lives Matter created in 2013

Black Lives Matter (Special Reports), By Duchess Harris (9-12)

Daddy, There’s a Noise Outside, By Kenneth Braswell (4-8)

16 – Ida B Wells’ Birthday (1862)

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told, By Walter Dean Myers (4-8)

18- Nelson Mandela’s Birthday (1918)

Nelson Mandela, By Kadir Nelson (4-8)

22- Feast of Mary Magdalene

29- Clarence Jordan’s Birthday (1912)

AUGUST

2- James Baldwin’s Birthday (1924)

Little Man, Little Man, By James Baldwin

6- US bombs Hiroshima in 1945

– Voting Rights Act Law Signed in 1965

9- US bombs Nagasaki in 1945

11- Feast day of Clare of Assisi

12- Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA (2017)

White Flour, By David LaMotte

15- Saint Oscar Romero’s Birthday (1917)

– Panama Canal opened in 1914

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal, By Margarita Engle (6-9)

17- Indonesian Independence Day (1945)

Night at the Planetarium, By Innosanto Nagara (5-9)

18- 19th Amendment Ratified giving Women the Right to Vote  (1920)

19- Oklahoma City Sit-Ins (1958)

Someday is Now: Clara Luper and the 1950 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins, By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (6-9)

24- Howard Zinn’s Birthday

A People’s History of the American Empire: A Graphic Novel, By Howard Zinn

28- March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963

We March, By Shane Evans (2-7)

SEPTEMBER

5- Claudette Colvin’s Birthday (1939)

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, By Phillip Hoose

6- Jane Addams’ Birthday (1860)

The House that Jane Built, By Tanya Lee Stone (3+)

8- Ruby Bridges’ Birthday (1954)

The Story of Ruby Bridges, By Robert Coles

9- Plowshares Eight Action in 1980

17- Occupy Wall Street (2011)

21- Equinox

23- Bisexual Visability Day

25- bell hooks’ Birthday (1952)

Skin Again, By bell hooks (4-8)

OCTOBER

2- Mohandas Gandhi’s Birthday (1869)

4- Feast Day of St Francis

A Wolf at the Gate, By Mark van Steenwyk, Accompanying album by Jon Felton

The Song of Frances, By Tomie dePaola (3-6)

5- Phil Berrigan’s Birthday (1923)

6- Fannie Lou Hamer’s Birthday (1917)

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, By Carole Boston Weatherford (9-12)

8- Indigenous Peoples Day

Black Elk’s Vision, By SD Nelson (3-7)

Greet the Dawn: The Lakota Way, By SD Nelson

My Heart Fills with Happiness, By Monique Gray Smith (5-6)

Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices, By Lisa Charleyboy, Mary Beth Leatherdale (12 and up)

11- National Coming Out Day

– Thich Nhat Hanh’s Birthday (1926)

31- Halloween, Samhain, All Hallows Eve

NOVEMBER

1- Dia de Los Muertos

Day of the Dead, by Tony Johnston, Jeanette Winter

  – All Saints Day

2- All Souls

8 – Dorothy Day’s Birthday (1897)

24- Shirtwaist Makers Strike began 1909

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909, By Michelle Markel (5-9)

26- Sojourner Truth died (1883)

Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride, By Andrea Davis Pinkney (5-9)

DECEMBER

1- Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955

Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation, By Andrea Davis Pinkney (5-8)

  – World AIDS Day

2- Maryknoll Missionaries killed in 1980

6- Feast of St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins, By James Forest

8- Diego Rivera’s Birthday (1886)

Diego, By Jonah Winter and Jeanette Winter

12- Our Lady of Guadalupe

Lady of Guadalupe, By Tomie dePaola

13- Ella Baker’s Birthday (1903)

Rad American Women A to Z, By Kate Schatz

21- Solstice

– Emma Tenayuca’s Birthday (1916)

That’s Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice, By Carmen Tafolla  (5-7)

25- Christmas

26- Kwanzaa

28- Feast of Holy Innocents