For the week of Aug. 29, 2010

Aug. 30
Victory Day: Turkey. This holiday commemorates the end of the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1922.

Aug. 31
National Day: Malaysia . This marks the day Malaysia achieved independence from Great Britain in 1957.

Sept. 01
Labor Day: Canada and the United States. This day is celebrated as a public holiday in the United States and Canada to honor all working people. In most other countries, this celebration occurs on May 1.

Sept. 02
Liliuokalani (1838-1917): Hawaiian. Monarch. The last sovereign of Hawaii, Liliuokalani succeeded to the throne after her brotheris death in 1891. The growing influence of American missionaries and sugar planters had led to a weakening of the monarchy, and she attempted to reassert the royal authority in government and the economy. When she tried to proclaim a new constitution in 1893, a group of residents, mostly Americans or descendants of Americans or descendants Moon Festival (Chung-chiiu of Americans, set up a provisional government, declared the monarchy abolished, and applied for annexation to the United States. After a delay of several years, while Liliuokalani tried to build support for her restoration, the islands were annexed in 1898.

Sept. 02
Independence Day: Vietnam. This marks the day in 1945 of the surrender of Japan, ending World War II, and the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Sept. 02
Mid-Autumn: China. This festival is associated with traditional moon lore. For example, girls wish upon this moon for a good husband; they play games that foretell the future of their marriages. Many people have a picnic dinner at night to enjoy the moon.

Sept. 02
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Tet Trung Thu): Vietnam. This celebrates the harvest moon with lantern processions and trips for children. Moon cake and candy are also eaten.

Sept. 04
Lewis H. Latimer (1848-1928): African American. Inventor. In 1882, Latimer patented the first electric light bulb with a carbon filament. An employee of the Edison Company, Latimer also wrote the first textbook on the Edison electric system and supervised the installation of electric lights in Philadelphia and New York City.

Sept. 04
Richard Wright (1908-1960: African American. Writer. The most widely read African American writer of the early twentieth century, Wright was the author of powerful novels, the best known of which is Native Son (1940), and volumes of short stories and essays. His work exposed the brutal realities of racism in both the Deep South, where he was born, and the urban North, where he spent much of his adult life.

Sept. 05
Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse) (1842-1877) American Indian (Oglala Sioux). Military leader. Tashunka Witko, an Oglala Sioux chief, was one of the leaders of the Sioux and Cheyenne in the war of 1876. In June of that year he defeated U.S. army forces at Rosebud and eight days later at Little Bighorn where General George A. Custer was killed and his command annihilated. He voluntarily surrendered to American troops in 1877. On this date in that year, he was shot to death as he was being put into a jail cell.