09
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906): African American. Dunbar became nationally known for his poems and tales, many of them depicting the life of Blacks on southern plantations. He also wrote essays protesting the conditions of Black Americans.

12
Tadeusz (Thaddeus) Kosciuszko (1746-1817): Polish. Soldier and statesman. As a colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, Kosciuszko planned the fortifications that helped defeat the British at the battle of Saratoga. For his service to the cause of American independence, Congress awarded him American citizenship. After returning to Poland in 1784 and becoming a major general in the Polish army in 1789, Kosciuszko emerged as a military and political leader, pressing for democratic reforms in Polish government and society and leading Polish forces against Russian armies sent to suppress the Polish movement for independence in1791 and again in 1794. After his final defeat in 1794, he spent the rest of his life in exile.

14
Richard Allen (1760-1831): African American. Minister. In 1787 Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church to give African Americans the opportunity to worship in a setting free of racial discrimination. His Bethal Church in Philadelphia became a focal point of organized protest by African Americans against slavery and racial discrimination in the North.

14
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): African American. Writer, lecturer, editor, and civil rights activist. Born a slave, Frederick Augustus Bailey escaped at the age of 21, changed his name, and became a renowned campaigner for the abolition of slavery. After publishing his autobiography in 1845, Douglas made a lecture tour of England, where friends raised money to buy his freedom. Upon his return he founded a newspaper, the North Star. During the Civil War Douglass held a variety of federal offices, including *that of Minister to Haiti.

14
Masao Satow (1908-1977): Japanese American. Civic leader. Born in California to Japanese American parents Satow joined the Japanese American Citizens League, an emerging national organization for persons of Japanese ancestry born in the United States, in 1932. He became its national secretary in 1947, when the organization had only two chapters, both on the West Coast, and 3,100 members. At the end of his twenty-five years of leadership, the organization had 94 chapters across the nation and 27,000 members.

14
Valentines Day: United States. The origins of this day are confused. There appear to have been two or three early Christian martyrs named Valentine. One was probably executed on February 14. One man named Valentine secretly married young sweethearts in opposition to the Roman Emperor Claudiusi ban on marriage (a policy designed to prevent young men of military age from forming family ties). Another legend mentions flowers grown by Valentine and given to children. When Valentine was imprisoned the children remembered him by throwing nosegays and notes into his prison window. These were the original Valentine greetings.

15
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): Suffragette. Born in Adams, Massachusetts, Anthony was a leader of the movement to gain women the right to vote. As a leader of the Womenis Temperance Movement along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she secured the first laws in New York State giving women control over their children, property, and wages.

15
Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965): Jewish American. Lawyer, teacher, jurist. Frankfurter taught law at Harvard Law School, was an advisor to President Wilson, and helped to found the American Civil Liberties union. He was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.

15
Nirvana (Buddhais Death): Buddhist. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, this day marks the death of Buddha in 483 B.C.E. and commemorates his attainment of final Nirvana. The date is based on the Japanese Buddhist calendar.

15
Randy Shilts (1952-1994): Gay. Author and journalist. The national correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle, Shilts was one of the first openly gay journalists hired at a major newspaper. Shiltsi best selling books include The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk (1982), And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic (1987), and Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military (1993). And the Band Played On was made into a docudrama that was broadcast on HBO on September 11, 1993. Band has been translated into seven languages and released in 16 nations. Conduct Unbecoming won numerous awards, earning Shilts the designation of Author of the Year in 1988 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. This is the date of his death from AIDS.