For the week of Jul. 25, 2010

July 25
Constitution Day : Puerto Rico. The constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was approved in 1952 on this day, which is now commemorated each year with official government ceremonies.

July 25
Republic Day : Tunisia. This day commemorates the end of the Tunisian monarchy and the establishment of a republic in 1957.

July 26
Hector P. Garcia (1914-1996): Hispanic American. Medical doctor and civil rights activist. Dr. Garcia practiced medicine in Corpus Christi, Texas, after receiving hid medical degree from the University of Texas. He was also involved in the civil rights movement for Hispanic Americans, and in 1948 founded the American G. I. Forum, a national advocacy organization for Mexican American war veterans. In 1968, he became the first Hispanic to serve on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and in 1984, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the day of his death at age 82.

July 26
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990): United States. Signed into law on this date, this milestone of U.S. civil rights legislation protects people with disabilities from discrimination in the areas of employment, transportation, and public accommodation. (Earlier legislation had addressed discrimination in housing.) The law requires a wide range of public and private establishments to make new and renovated facilities accessible to people with disabilities and to make ireadily achievable i changes to existing facilities in order to increase accessibility.

July 27
Jose Celso Barbosa: Puerto Rico. This is a public holiday honoring Barbosa, a doctor and a politician born on this day in 1857. I 1899, he founded the Republican Party if Puerto Rico that advocated statehood for the island.

July 27
Seventh Night (Chii-hsi), or Weaving Maid and Herd Boy Festival, is a romantic festival based on a tale of a couple who disobeyed the chief deity and are, therefore, held in the sky as stars on either side of the Milky Way. On this night, magpies fly up from earth and join their wings to form a bridge over the Milky Way so that the lovers can meet.

July 28
Independence Day Celebrated: Peru. This two-day national holiday celebrates the final defeat of Spanish forces by Simon Bolivar along with Jose de San Martin 1824.

Aug. 01
National Day: Switzerland. This holiday commemorates the founding in 1291 of the Swiss Confederation.