Third Judicial Circuit Court |
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THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION CALENDAR |
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The Third Circuit Court Diversity and Inclusion Team’s Mission: "We appreciate our common connection and respect our diverse and unique human experiences. We move forward as an inclusive organization as we provide accessible and equal justice."
The Court’s Diversity & Inclusion Team strives to ensure the values of its diverse bench, staff, and court users are acknowledged and reflected in our delivery of service as well as our work environment.
In that spirit, the team creates and shares a monthly list of various holidays and observations along with some celebration suggestions. We invite our work community and the community at large to contribute.
OCTOBER 2021
International Day of Older Persons - October 1
World Vegetarian Day - October 1
World Smile Day - October 1
Int’l Day of Non-Violence - October 2
National Taco Day - October 4
World Teachers’ Day - October 5
German-American Day - October 6
World Mental Health Day - October 10
National Coming Out Day - October 11
Columbus Day - October 11
Indigenous Peoples’ Day - October 11
National Farmer’s Day - October 12
World Food Day - October 16
Pronouns Day - October 20
National Chocolate Day - October 28
World Stroke Day - October 29
Halloween - October 31
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LGBT HISTORY MONTH
Every day in October, LGBT History Month recognizes the achievements of persons in the LGBT community. LGBT History Month encourages informative discussions to learn more about the leaders in the movement who drive equality forward.
Throughout the month, community events profile the civil rights history. Many initiatives impacted social, legal and political change.
How to Observe
Do some research on LGBT history. Learn more about the LGBT community and their civil rights history. Use #LGBTHistoryMonth to post on social media.
History
In 1994, Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school teacher, believed a month should be dedicated to the celebration and teaching of gay and lesbian history. He gathered other teachers and community leaders. Together, they selected October because public schools are in session and existing traditions, such as Coming Out Day (October 11), occur that month.
Gay and Lesbian History Month has been endorsed by many rights advocacy organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Educations Association and others.
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German-American Heritage Month
When the calendar turns to October, German-American Heritage Month goes into full swing.
From festivals and parades to history lessons and celebrations, flavors and sounds fill the month of October.
As early as 1683, families from Germany began settling in Pennsylvania. Ever since, waves of immigrants brought their ingenuity and perseverance to the United States. Among them were John Steinbeck, Carrie Marcus Neiman, Milton Hershey, Eberhard Anheuser, Marlene Dietrich and Gussie Busch. The list goes on. Whether they were pioneers, inventors, or trailblazers, they pursued their dreams. All across the nation, their impact can be found, through our architecture, literature, and settlements.
This is also reflected in our language. The word “kindergarten” means “child garden” in German. There are also many words that reference food, such as kuchen, noodles, brats, liverwursts, and bagels.
How to Observe
There are many ways to celebrate. Attend a festival or visit a museum. Research German heritage or host a beer tasting with a variety of authentic German foods. Visit the library and check out books by German authors you’ve never read.
Use #German-AmericanHeritageMonth to post on social media.
History
President Ronald Reagan issued the first proclamation in October of 1987 promoting German-American Heritage Month.
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Health Literacy Month
Health Literacy Month is a time to recognize the importance of making health information easy to understand and the health care system easier to navigate.
This year, the definition of health literacy has been updated by Healthy People 2030 with a two-part definition created by a team of experts:
Personal health literacy:
- The degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Organizational health literacy:
- The degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Among other changes, this new definition acknowledges that organizations have a responsibility to address health literacy – and emphasizes people’s ability not just to understand health information but also to use it.
Assist friends and loved ones with health literacy by referring them to these sites. Together, we can make health literacy a priority – and ultimately improve health outcomes across the nation.
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Indigenous Peoples’ Day – October 12, 2021
Generations of Native people throughout the Western Hemisphere have protested Columbus Day. In the forefront of their minds is the fact the colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors.
In 1977, participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America, and it urges Americans to rethink history.
The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Native American Day has gained momentum and spread to states, cities, and towns across the United States. The first state to rename Columbus Day was South Dakota in 1990. Hawaii has also changed the name of its October 12 holiday to Discovers’ Day, in honor of the Polynesian navigators who peopled the islands. Berkeley, California became the first city to make the change in 1992, when the city council renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In 2015, an estimated 6,000 Native people and their supporters gathered at Randall’s Island, New York, to recognize the survival of the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The demonstration’s success and the worldwide media attention it attracted, planted the seeds for creating an indigenous Peoples’ Day in New York City. In 2020, the nation’s capital passed a resolution to change the holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Universities and schools across the country are also observing the commemoration.
These states and the District of Columbia now observe Native American or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, in place of or in addition to Columbus Day. Most of them have followed the lead of their cities and smaller communities. It is a list that continues to grow.
Alabama
Alaska
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Louisiana
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
New Mexico
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
Even so, mythology about Columbus and the “discovery” of the Americas continues to be many American children’s first classroom lesson about encountering different cultures, ethnicities, and peoples. Teaching more accurate and complete narratives and differing perspectives is key to our society’s rethinking its history.
Things are changing. States, cities, towns, counties, community groups, churches, universities, schools, and other institutions are now observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Native American Day with activities that raise awareness of the rich history, culture, and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. They do so thanks to Native people and their allies who gathered for decades at prayer vigils, powwows, symposiums, concerts, lectures, rallies, and classrooms to help America rethink American history.
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