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
