Confederation Agreement Day : Senegal. Public holiday.
African American History Month. In 1926 Dr. Carter Woodson instituted a week-long celebration of the contributions of African Americans to history. Dr. Woodson chose the week of Abraham Lincoln's birthday (February 12). In recent years the observance has expanded, and now the entire month of February is celebrated as African American History Month. Because of the variation in terms used, this month is also known as Afro-American History or Black History and Black Experience Month. Each year, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life & History, founded by 
Langston Hughes (1902–1967) : African American. Writer. Hughes emerged as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and became the most influential African American writer of his time. His poetry, which drew on the traditional Black art forms of spirituals, blues, and jazz, won an especially wide audience, but Hughes also distinguished himself as a writer of fiction, drama, essays, and history.
Confederation Agreement Day : Senegal. Public holiday.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) : Mexico. This treaty, which marked the end of the Mexican War, established U.S. sovereignty over 1,193,061 square miles of formerly disputed or Mexican territory, including the present states of Texas, Arizona, California, and Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Candlemas : Christian. This religious holiday originated with the ancient Jewish custom that required mothers to present their first male child in the temple. As a Jewish mother, Mary would have presented Jesus on February 2. The day is associated with light and purification. The holiday takes its name from the custom of blessing the church's supply of candles for the year on this date.
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) : Lesbian. Author. An avant-garde American writer whose Paris home became a salon for the leading artists and writers of the period between World Wars I and II, Gertrude Stein attended Radcliffe College, studying psychology with the philosopher William James. After further study at Johns Hopkins medical school, she went to Paris where she lived with her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. Stein was among the first collectors of works by the Cubists and other experimental painters of the period, such as Pablo Picasso (who painted her portrait), Henri Matisse, and Georges Braque. These painters were introduced to expatriate American writers, such as Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway, and other visitors drawn by her literary reputation. Her first published book, Three Lives (1909), the stories of three working-class women, has been called a minor masterpiece. Her only book to reach a wide public was The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), actually Stein's own autobiography. The performance in the United States of her Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), which the composer Virgil Thomson had made into an opera, led to a triumphal American lecture tour in 1934–35.
Bean Scattering Festival (Setsubun) : Japan. This festival expresses everyone's desire for good health and good fortune in the new year. At home, children throw beans at the "devil" and shout "out with the devil, in with good luck."
Outbreak of Philippine revolt against the United States (1899) : Philippines. During the Spanish American War the United States encouraged the Philippine people to organize an army of resistance against Spanish rule. When the treaty ending the war transferred control from Spain to the United States, the rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo called for the people to declare their independence. On February 4, they rose in armed insurrection. An American force of 700,000 men succeeded in ending organized resistance by the end of the year. However, many influential Americans denounced the government's policies.
Sending Off the Kitchen God Day : China (February 4–5). This festival is associated with the New Year. In traditional Chinese homes, a paper image represents a home deity that is thought to keep track of the deeds of the household for the year. On this day, the family burns the image, whose spirit is believed to go to heaven and report to the chief deity on the family's behavior during the past year. The chief deity then determines the fate of the family for the next year. To positively affect the report of the Kitchen God, the family may put honey or sticky candy over its mouth—some say, to make sure that it reports only sweet things; others say, so that it will not be able to speak at all. This holiday is also celebrated on February 5. (m)
Constitution Day : Mexico. On this day in 1917 Mexico adopted its first constitution. (See entry for November 20.) Bob Marley (1945–1981) : Jamaican. Musician. Marley was the most influential star of reggae, a Jamaican form of popular music that draws on Afro-Caribbean dance and American soul music and was one of the first musical idioms from the Third World to become popular in Europe and the United States. Reggae is associated with Rastafarianism, a faith founded by Marcus Garvey, whose adherents see the late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia as a divine figure and themselves as black Hebrews exiled in the Babylon of western colonial capitalism. Marley's intense, compelling presence and the stirring messages of his songs brought him the acclaim of international audiences and influenced singers and songwriters throughout the Western Hemisphere, Europe, and Africa.
Waitangi Day : New Zealand. This commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between the indigenous Maoris of New Zealand and the European colonists, providing for British sovereignty in exchange for guaranteed possession by the Maoris of their lands.
Martin Buber (1878–1965) : Jewish Austrian. Theologian. Buber developed a theology of Jewish existentialism that emphasized a strong personal relationship between God and the individual. His most famous work is I and Thou.
Constitution Day : Philippines. This holiday commemorates the adoption of the Constitution of the Philippines in 1935.
Dawes General Allotment Act (1887) : United States. This law dissolved American Indian tribes as legal entities and divided formerly tribal lands among individual property owners.
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.
St. Maroon's Day : Lebanon. Public holiday.
National Foundation Day (Kenkoku Kinen Bi) : Japan. This holiday celebrates the ascension to the throne of the first Japanese Emperor, Jimmu, and the founding of the Japanese nation in 660 B.C.E.
Shrove Monday : Christian. Christians in some countries customarily make treats to use up butter and eggs before the 40-day fast of Lent. (m)
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 in 1791 and again in 1794. After his final defeat in 1794, he spent the rest of his life in exile.
New Year : China. This is the beginning of a three-day celebration of the Chinese New Year. The festivities mark the beginning of year 4700 (The Year of the Horse) since the mythical founding of the Chinese people. It is a day when all business accounts are settled and grudges forgotten. Traditional Chinese celebrate New Year's Day as a birthday and count themselves one year older. Celebrations include fireworks, a dragon dance and the beating of drums and cymbals, visits to temples, and prayers for blessings in the new year. This is called "Spring Festival" in the People's Republic of China because the official New Year's Day is January 1, based on the Gregorian calendar. (m)
New Year (Sol) : Korea. This begins the traditional Korean New Year 4335 of the era of Tan'gun, the mythical progenitor of the Korean people. It is celebrated from February 12 to February 14. (m)
New Year (Tet Nguyen Dan) : Vietnam. This is the most important holiday in Vietnam. People dress in their best clothes to welcome the new year. There are ceremonies to bid farewell to the gods that attend each household, the kitchen gods, who go to heaven to report on the household's behavior during the past year. Fireworks mark the departure of the kitchen gods. (m)
Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) : Christian. Shrove Tuesday marks the final midwinter fling before Lent begins. (m)
New Year (Losar) : Tibet. This begins the Tibetan lunar year 2129, the Year of the Water Horse. This is a day of celebration that links all people in the Tibetan diaspora, resulting from the decision of many Tibetans, led by the Dalai Lama in 1959, to flee the Communist Chinese. (m)
Ash Wednesday (beginning of Lent) : Christian. This marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of prayer and fasting preceding Easter Sunday (February 13 to March 31, excluding Sundays). It is observed in memory of Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert. In the early centuries of Christianity, there were strict requirements for fasting during the period of preparation for Easter. Although these rules have been relaxed in the Western church, many Roman Catholics and Protestants choose to give up a favorite food or activity during Lent. There are many symbolic meanings to the use of ashes on this holiday. Generally, ashes symbolize death. The priest or minister's placing of ashes on one's forehead in the shape of a cross is part of the preparation for fasting and resistance to temptation by those observing Lent that ends in the symbolic renewal of life on Easter. (m)
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 Bethel Church in Philadelphia became a focal point of organized protest by African Americans against slavery and racial discrimination in the North.
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, Douglass 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 urged President Lincoln to free the slaves and arm African Americans. After the war Douglass held a variety of federal offices, including that of Minister to Haiti.
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.
Valentine's 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 Claudius' 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.
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 Women's 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.
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 in 1939.
Nirvana (Buddha's Death) : Buddhist. In the Mahãyãna 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.
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. Shilts' best-selling books includeThe 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.
Independence Day : Lithuania. In 1918 Lithuania declared its independence from Russia. However, in the aftermath of World War II, the Soviet Union absorbed Lithuania into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and it was not until August 19, 1991 that Lithuania regained its independence.
Marian Anderson (1902–1993) : African American. Singer. Gifted with a rich contralto that the conductor Arturo Toscanini called "the kind of voice heard once in a hundred years," Marian Anderson rose from modest beginnings in Philadelphia to become an internationally acclaimed concert artist, renowned for her interpretations of the classical repertoire and of African American spirituals. In 1955, thirty years after beginning her concert career, she became the first African American to sing a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Widely admired for her humane spirit, she served on the United States delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1958.
Goyaale (Geronimo) (1829–1909) : American Indian (Chiricahua Apache). Military leader. As chief of the Chiricahua Apache Indians, Geronimo escaped repeatedly from reservations and led attacks on settlers and soldiers in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States during the late 1870s and early 1880s. He surrendered to U.S. government forces in 1885. This is the anniversary of his death.
Sholom Aleichem (born Solomon Rabinowitz) (1854–1916) : Jewish Russian American. Writer. Born in Ukraine, Rabinowitz began writing in Yiddish in 1883, using as his pseudonym the Yiddish greeting "Peace be upon you." His best known works are his stories of Jewish life in the villages of Eastern Europe. Along with I. Peretz and Mendele Sforim, he is considered one of the founders of modern Yiddish literature.
Audre Geraldin Lorde (1934–1992) : Lesbian. Poet and essayist. Audre Lorde was a Black lesbian who fought for justice through both her writings and her political activities. She held a number of teaching positions and toured internationally as a lecturer, forming coalitions between Afro-German and Afro-Dutch women, founding a sisterhood in South Africa, starting the Women of Color Press, and establishing the St. Croix Women's Coalition. Her poetry collections include From a Land Where Other People Live (1973), The Black Unicorn (1978), Our Dead Behind Us (1986), and The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance (1993). She won the American Book Award in 1989 for A Burst of Light and was appointed New York State's Poet Laureate by then Governor Mario Cuomo in 1991. Lorde chronicled her 14-year battle against breast cancer in works such as The Cancer Journals, before finally succumbing to the disease in 1992.
Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980) : Puerto Rico. Political leader. Elected Puerto Rico's first governor in 1948, Muñoz Marín served in that office until 1964, instituting programs of economic development and social reform. He also proposed a plan for maintaining Puerto Rico's union with the United States while establishing the island as a self-governing unit exempt from U.S. taxes. This proposal became the basis for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, created by an act of Congress and proclaimed in 1952.
Presidents Day : United States. The birthdays of U.S. Presidents George Washington (February 22, 1732) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809) are observed on this day. (m)
Beginning of Japanese internment (1942) : United States. On this date President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order requiring the removal of most persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to internment camps in rural Arizona, Colorado, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. This act, a response to anti-Japanese feeling in the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, uprooted 120,000 people, including 71,000 U.S. citizens. Barbara Jordan (1936–1996) : African American. Lawyer, politician, teacher. Born in Houston, Texas, Jordan graduated magna cum laude from Texas Southern University and Boston University Law School. In 1966, she was the first Black woman to be elected to the Texas State Senate. She later became the first woman and first African American elected to Congress from Texas.
First publication of the Cherokee Phoenix (1828) : American Indian. In 1828 a system of symbols developed by Sequoyah to give written form to the Cherokee language made possible the publication of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper printed in an Indian language.
National Mourning Day : Bangladesh. Public holiday.
Santiago Iglesias (1872–1939) : Spanish Puerto Rican. Labor organizer and political leader. Iglesias first became involved in activities demanding civil rights for workers as a 12-year-old apprentice carpenter in his native Spain. Immigrating to Cuba three years later, he continued to organize laborers to demand better working conditions first there and then in Puerto Rico, where he rose to leadership of the Federación Libre de Trabajadores de Puerto Rico. He was the organization's president from 1900 to 1935. An active Socialist, he eventually entered electoral politics, serving in the Puerto Rican senate from 1917 to 1933 and as Puerto Rico's representative to the U.S. Congress from 1933 until his death.
Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) (1876–1938) : American Indian (Sioux). Writer and activist. Born in South Dakota to a full-blooded Sioux mother and a white father, Zitkala-Sa became an eloquent writer of essays and memoirs and a leader in the movement to advance the civic, educational, and economic opportunities of American Indians while recognizing and preserving American Indian cultures. As secretary of the Society of American Indians and then president of the National Council of American Indians, she lectured, wrote, and lobbied on behalf of Indian legislation, and was instrumental in the passage of the Indian Citizenship Bill of 1924. (See entry for June 2.)
People Power Day : Philippines. This commemorates the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines as a dictatorship from 1972 to 1986, by the democracy movement. This holiday is commonly celebrated from February 22 to February 25. It was on February 25 that Ferdinand Marcos left the Philippines and Corazon Aquino was recognized by the United States as president.
Union Day : Egypt. Public holiday.
Eid al-Adha (The Feast of Sacrifice) : Islam. This religious observance commemorates the story of Abraham and Ishmail as told in the Qur'an. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son as a proof of his faith. Before Abraham completed the sacrifice, God stopped him and provided a ram for sacrifice in place of Ishmail. After a solemn service at the mosque, worshippers visit cemeteries to pay tribute to the dead. When they return home, a festive meal is eaten. This is also the time when many Muslims observe one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which requires those who can to make a pilgrimage once in their lifetime to Mecca's Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, Islam's holiest site. (m)
W[illiam] E[dward] B[urkhardt] Du Bois (1868–1963) : African American. Writer and civil rights activist. Scholar, writer, and editor, Du Bois was the most important leader of the effort to secure basic civil and human rights for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century. Trained in sociology, history, and philosophy, he wrote a number of scholarly works about the social conditions of Blacks in America. The most famous of these, The Souls of Black Folk, was especially influential; it attacked Booker T. Washington's strategy of accommodation and urged a more activist approach to improving the conditions of Black Americans. Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement, an organization of Black intellectuals working for civil rights, in 1905, and in 1909 helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He edited the NAACP magazine The Crisis until 1934, when he resigned to devote his time to teaching and writing.
Casimir Funk (1884–1967) : Jewish Polish American. Scientist. Funk discovered vitamins as
Defenders of the Motherland Day : Russia. Public holiday.
Flag Day : Mexico. Public holiday. Enrico Caruso (1873–1931) : Italian American. Opera singer. The most acclaimed operatic tenor of his time, Caruso was also the first great singer whose voice is preserved in recordings.
Haing Ngor (1951–1996) : Cambodian American. Physician, actor. Haing Ngor arrived in the United States after escaping imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge following the 1975 takeover of Cambodia by that party, and endured four years of torture and starvation. He had to conceal his medical training to escape, which he did after a Vietnamese invasion ousted the Khmer Rouge. He immigrated to the United States in 1980 to resume his medical practice. In 1984, Ngor won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Dith Pran in the movie The Killing Fields. Ngor was the first nonprofessional to win an Oscar for acting since Harold Russell in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives. He was shot to death outside his home on this date. He was 45 years old.
José de San Martín (1778–1850) : Argentina. Soldier and statesman. With Simón Bolívar, San Martín led the movement of Spain's South American colonies to win their freedom from Spain. In 1811 he resigned from the Spanish army to organize the armed resistance to Spanish rule in the land of his birth, modern-day Argentina. He raised an army there and led it over the Andes to Chile, taking Santiago in 1817, and then organized a Chilean navy to transport the rebel army to Lima. There he proclaimed the establishment of a new country on July 28, 1821. Although he was made leader of the new nation, he came into political conflict with Bolívar and retired to France.
National Day : Kuwait. Also observed on February 26, this two-day holiday marks the successful pushing back of Iraqi troops from Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991.
Lantern Festival (Yuan-hsiao) : China. This celebrates the end of the New Year season. In Taiwan people make elaborate lanterns to hang in the temples and hold contests to choose the most beautiful one. They also write riddles on the lanterns and compete to solve them. In the People's Republic of China the lanterns are hung in public parks. (m)
Intercalary Days : Baha'i. The days from February 26 to March 1 adjust the Baha'i year, which consists of 19 months with 19 days each month, to the solar calendar. These days are observed with gift-giving, special acts of charity, and preparation for fasting that precedes the new year.
Purim (Feast of Lots) : Jewish. This festive holiday celebrates the rescue of the ancient Persian Jews from a plot to destroy them. The king's advisor, Haman, cast lots to choose the day for carrying out his plan. Esther, the Jewish queen, persuaded her husband to spare the Jews. Fasting on the day before Purim commemorates Esther's fasting before seeing the king to plead for the Jewish people. The "Megillah," the story of Purim, is read in the synagogue. Children twirl gragers (noisemakers) to drown out Haman's name each time it is mentioned. Homentashen, special pastries in the form of Haman's hat, are eaten. Gifts are distributed to the poor as well as exchanged among family and friends. (m)
Independence Day : Dominican Republic. This day commemorates the retreat in 1844 of the Haitians who had controlled the country.
Occupation of Wounded Knee (1973) : American Indian. On this date a group of American Indian activists began the occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, site of the 1890 massacre that ended the Plains Indians wars, to demand reforms in tribal government. The occupation, which erupted into sporadic violence after armed federal marshals surrounded the area, continued until May 8 and brought increased national attention to the grievances of American Indians. (See entry for December 29.)