Important Dates in the Month of January

New Year’s Day was referred to as “Hiring Day”  or “Heartbreak Day.”

 January 4th is World Braille Day.

January 20th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I first heard about New Year’s Day being referred to as “Hiring Day” or “Heartbreak Day” in the Sincerely, Lettie podcast episode “Words for 2020, Watch Night, & the History of New Year's Day.” To learn more about this history, you can listen to the Sincerely, Lettie episode and read the Time article Lettie references, “'The Slaves Dread New Year's Day the Worst': The Grim History of January 1” by Olivia B. Waxman.

According to the Braille Works article “What is World Braille Day,” “We celebrate World Braille Day every year on January 4th because it’s Louis Braille’s birthday. He’s the inventor of braille...World Braille Day is a reminder of the importance of accessibility and independence for people who are blind or visually impaired. Today’s reality is that many establishments such as restaurants, banks, and hospitals don’t offer braille versions of their print materials like menus, statements, and bills. Because of this, people with blindness or visual impairments often don’t have the freedom to choose a meal on their own or keep their finances private. This day spreads awareness about braille and other accessible forms of communication. Everyone deserves (and is legally entitled to) the same accommodations and service, regardless of ability. Let’s remember that and do our part to make our workplaces more accessible for everyone.”

In the January 7, 2018 episode “What We Not Finna Do Is…” from the Pass the Mic podcast, Jemar Tisby said, “In 2018, we not finna to celebrate a ‘kumbaya’ Martin Luther King. What we not finna do is talk about the kumbaya King, or you could say the quotable King. In other words, it’s the King we remember from the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, it’s the King we remember marching in the Montgomery bus boycott and leading that movement, but it’s not the controversial King. That’s the King a lot of people don’t want to remember. So the controversial King talked about democratic socialism...decried the Vietnam War…[talked] about nuclear disarmament.”

On the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum site, I read, “The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.”

#January #NewYearsDay #January1 #WorldBrailleDay #January4 #MartinLutherKingJrDay #MLKDay #January20 #InternationalHolocaustRemembranceDay #January27 #challengethenarrative #broadeningthenarrative