01
Ronald H. Brown (1941-1996): African American. Lawyer, civil rights activist, politician. Appointed by President Clinton on January 21, 1993, Ron Brown became the first African American to hold the office of secretary of commerce. He was born in Washington D.C., and later graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont. After serving four years in the army in both Germany and Korea, he earned a law degree from St. John's University. He served as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under the chairmanship of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and became a leader in the civil rights movement as deputy executive director, general counsel, and vice president for Washington operations for the National Urban League. In 1988, he became chairman of the Democratic Party. He died in a plane crash while on a trade mission to Bosnia and Croatia.

01
Independence Day: Nigeria. This national holiday commemorates the nation's achieving independence from Britain in 1960.

01
National Day: People's Republic of China. This marks the anniversary of the victory of the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong over the Nationalist. Forces led by Chiang Kai-shek and the declaration of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This holiday is celebrated on October 1 and October 2.

02
Nat Turner (1800-1831): African American. Leader of a slave revolt. In August 1831 Turner led a bloody uprising in Southampton County, Virginia, in which 57 whites were killed. Nearly 100 Blacks died in the manhunt that led to his capture. Turner was eventually tried and hanged.

02
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948): India. Political leader. This is a national holiday in India honoring Gandhi's leadership of the Indian resistance to British rule that culminated in the establishment of an independent Indian state in 1947. Honored all over the world as one of the moral heroes and most influential figures of the century, Gandhi articulated and lived a doctrine of nonviolence, insisting that those who struggle for justice must respect the sanctity of life. This is the day of his birth.

03
John Ross (1790-1866): American Indian (Cherokee). Political leader. Ross served as chief of the Cherokee nation from 1827, when the tribe established a constitutional government, to his death. After trying unsuccessfully to prevent the forced removal of his people from their land in the Southeast, he led the Cherokee on their journey over the Trail if Tears to Oklahoma and devoted himself to maintaining the unity of the resettled people.

03
German Unity Day: Germany. After World War II, Germany was divided between West Germany, under a democratic government, and East Germany, under a communist government. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the final reunification of Germany under a democratic government took place on this day in 1990.

03
National Foundation Day (Kaech'on-jol) Korea. This commemorates the founding of the first Korean state in 2333 B.C.E. by Tan'gun.

04
George I. Sanchez (1906-1972): Mexican American. Educator and writer. Sanchez was an authority on Latin American education and on educational and social needs of Mexican Americans. He wrote or edited hundreds of articles and many books, directed research projects, and advised governments, universities, and foundations. He was one of the architects of bilingual and bicultural education programs and an advocate of increased political and economic opportunities for Mexican Americans.

04
Tecumseh(1768?-1813): American Indian. (Shawnee). Political and military leader. Tecumseh led the resistance to the advance of white settlement in the Northwest Territories in the last years of the eighteenth century, refusing to sigh a treaty that surrendered most of Ohio to the United States. He organized the northwestern tribes into a confederation pledged to make no further land concessions and allied himself with the British in the War of 1812. He was killed in battle on this date.

04
Republic Day: Portugal. This holiday celebrates the establishment of the Republic of Portugal in 1834.

04
Surrender of Chief Joseph (1877): American Indian. When the U.S. government ordered the Nez Perce Indians to move from their ancestral lands in the Northwest to a reservation, Chief Joseph led his people on a 1,321 - mile trek northward, hoping to resettle in Canada. After fending off army attacks and suffering terrible losses to cold and sickness, Chief Joseph surrendered on this date with a moving speech, concluding I will fight no more forever.

06
Henri Christophe (1767-1820): Haitian. Military and political leader. One of Toussaint-Louverture's lieutenants in the war for Haitian independence, Christophe set up an independent kingdom in the North and later joined in the effort to defeat the French and drive them permanently from the island. Thwarted in his ambition to lead the new nation, which he thought needed the strong hand of a despot, he withdrew again to the North and from1811 ruled his own kingdom as Henri I. After a reign of general prosperity, he suffered a stroke in 1820, and revolts broke out. When he was unable to restore civil order, he shot himself, and his kingdom soon became part of the Republic of Haiti.

06
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977): African American. Civil rights leader. The daughter of sharecropper parents in the Mississippi Delta, Fannie Lou Hamer became one of the most courageous and inspiring leaders of the civil rights movement as one of the first African Americans to register to vote and then as an organizer. Frequently arrested and beaten, she continued her work and inspired followers with her courage, her faith, and her persistence. She was a major force in the successful effort to integrate the Democratic Party in Mississippi. She also helped to establish agricultural cooperatives, build low-income housing, and bring industry to poor rural areas.

06
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Jewish. The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as the Days of Awe or the Days of Repentance. During this time Jews are to remind themselves of their sins and seek forgiveness for their wrongdoings. Wrongdoing against God can be forgiven by God, but wrongdoing against others can be forgiven only by the person wronged. Because sin corrupts not only the person who commits it, but the entire community as well all sins are confessed by the whole congregation. The last service of Yom Kippur, the Closing, occurs as the sun begins to set. Initially, the closing pertained to the gates of the Temple. The deeper meaning, however, is that the Book of Life, is sealed for the ensuing year. Thus, freed from sin by repentance and sealed in the Book of Life, the worshippers turn from the past to the future.

08
Health Sports Day (Taiiku No Hi): Japan. This is a day to promote physical health and also to commemorate the Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Japan.

08
Thanksgiving Day: Canada. This is observed as a harvest festival and an occasion for families to get together for visiting and traditional foods.