Founders’ Day is a reminder of the substantial role that the PTA has played locally, regionally and nationally in supporting parent involvement and working on behalf of all children and families. It honors the PTA’s founders Phoebe Apperson Hearst and Alice McLellan Birney, and the founder of Georgia’s Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, Selena Sloan Butler.
Battery Day marks the birthday of the inventor Alessandro Volta on 18 February 1745.
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Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona on 18 February 1930. It was given the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was considered the ninth planet of the solar system until 2006, when astronomers reclassified it as a dwarf planet.
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On 19 February 1942, as a result of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, some 110,000 Japanese Americans living in coastal Pacific areas were placed in concentration camps in remote areas of Arizona, Arkansas, inland California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. The interned Japanese Americans (two-thirds of whom were US citizens) lost an estimated $ 400 million in property. They were allowed to return to their homes 2 January 1945.
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American photographer, known for his photographs of Yosemite National Park, was born at San Francisco, California on 20 February 1902. Adams died at Monterey, California on 22 April 1984. View images at http://anseladams.com/.
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World Day of Social Justice is an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly to promote efforts to solve those major problems that all countries face such as poverty, exclusion, and unemployment. Read more at http://www.un.org/en/events/socialjusticeday/.
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Celebrate your native language or that of an immigrant ancestor during International Mother Language Day.
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On 21 February 1965, just as he began a speech to his newly formed Organization of Afro-American Unity, black activist leader Malcolm X was gunned down by several men standing among the 400-plus crowd in the Audubon Ballroom at Harlem, New York City. The assassination occurred barely a week after Malcolm X’s Queens home was fire-bombed. Three men were convicted of the murder in 1966 and sentenced to life in prison (two were released in the 1980s and the third won parole in 2010).
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Mardi Gras is the Christian festival season of Carnival celebrations,usually running from the last night of Christmas to Ash Wednesday, but the actual number of days varies from country to country and city to city. “Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday”. Also known as Shrove Tuesday. Read more at http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras.
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PANCAKE DAY or SHROVE TUESDAY is the day before Ash Wednesday, celebrated in some countries with feasting on pancakes. The word “shrove” is a form of the word “shrive” which means to be forgiven of one’s sins by confession and penance. Feasting (on pancakes) and merrymaking came before going to confession at the beginning of Lent. Read more at http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pancake-Day/
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On 22 February 1879 the first chain store, F.W. Woolworth, opened at Utica, New York. In 1997 the closing of the chain was announced. Read more at http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/aboutwoolies.html.
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On 22 February 1980 the US Olympic hockey team upset the team from the Soviet Union, 4– 3, at the Lake Placid Winter Games to earn a victory often called the “Miracle on Ice.” Led by coach Herb Brooks, the Americans went on to defeat Finland two days later and win the gold medal.
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Girl Scouts and Girl Guides think about their sisters in other parts of the world by learning about other countries and cultures and becoming aware of global concerns. Read more at https://www.wagggs.org/en/what-we-do/world-thinking-day/badge/.
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23 February is Curling Is Cool Day. Offer up a worldwide embrace for an Olympic sport the entire family can play! If you don’t get it, you ain’t cool.
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On 23 February 1893, Rudolf Diesel received a patent in Germany for the engine that bears his name. The diesel engine burns fuel oil rather than gasoline and is used in trucks and heavy industrial machinery.
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On 23 February 1945, the US flag was raised on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima by US Marines. Almost 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives before the island was finally taken from the Japanese on 16 March 1945.
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On 24 February 1912, 12 members of the Daughters of Zion Study Circle met at New York City under the leadership of Henrietta Szold. A constitution was drafted to expand the study group into a national organization called Hadassah (Hebrew for myrtle and the biblical name of Queen Esther) to foster Jewish education in America and to create public health nursing and nurses’ training in Palestine. Hadassah is now the largest women’s volunteer organization in the US, with 1,500 chapters rooted in healthcare delivery, education and vocational training, children’s villages and services and land reclamation in Israel.
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Open That Bottle Night. A night to finally drink that bottle of wine that you’ve been saving for a special occasion that never seems to come. Annually, the last Saturday in February.
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On 25 February 1841, the Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir was born at Limoges, France. Renoir’s paintings are known for their joy and sensuousness as well as the light techniques he employed in them. In his later years he was crippled by arthritis and would paint with the brush strapped to his hand. He died at Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence, France, 17 December 1919.
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On 26 February 1919, by an act of Congress, the Grand Canyon National Park was established. An immense gorge cut through the high plateaus of northwest Arizona by the raging Colorado River and covering 1,218,375 acres, Grand Canyon National Park is considered one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world.
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On 27 February 2006, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring a seven-acre plot at the corners of Duane and Elk streets in Lower Manhattan, New York, to be a national monument. From the 1690s to the 1790s, this land served as a cemetery for both free and enslaved Africans and is believed to be the resting place of more than 15,000 people.
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On 27 February 1897, opera singer Marian Anderson was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anderson’s talent was evident at an early age. Her career stonewalled by the prejudice she encountered in the US, she moved to Europe, where the magnificence of her voice and her versatility as a performer began to establish her as one of the world’s finest contraltos.
Preventing Anderson’s performance at Washington’s Constitution Hall in 1939 on the basis of her color, the Daughters of the American Revolution unintentionally secured for her the publicity that would lay the foundation for her success in the States. Her performance was rescheduled, and on 9 April 1939 (Easter Sunday), 75,000 people showed up to hear her sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The performance was simultaneously broadcast by radio. In 1955 Anderson became the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera. The following year President Dwight Eisenhower named her a delegate to the United Nations. She performed at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration and in 1963 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Anderson died 8 April 1993, at Portland, Oregon.
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On 28 February 1983, after concluding a run of 255 episodes, this 2 ½-hour finale of M*A*S*H was the most-watched television show at that time: 77 percent of the viewing public was tuned in. The show premiered in 1972.
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28 February is National Tooth Fairy Day. Why shouldn’t the tooth fairy have her own day? Every kid in the country knows about her and every parent is her assistant. Celebrate the hard work she does on the graveyard shift and brush, floss and read books about the tooth fairy in her honor!
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Rare Disease Day is celebrated on the last day of February to raise awareness among the general public and decision-makers about the impact of rare diseases. Most rare diseases have no cure and many go undiagnosed. Patient organizations work on the local and national level to encourage researchers and decision makers to do more for those living with rare diseases. Read more at https://www.rarediseaseday.org/.
