Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1530930
Happy New Year ! CALENDAR January 2025 JAN. 20 Martin Luther King Day On Jan. 20, 2025, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday will mark its 30th anniversary as a National Day of Service. While MLK Day became a federal holiday in 1986, Congress designated it as a day of service — a "day on, not a day off " — in 1994. Encourage students to honor Dr. King's life of service by vol- unteering to clean and green local parks, pack and deliver food to home-bound neighbors, and more. Find project ideas at Youth Service America (ysa.org/campaigns/mlkday). Educators can help students learn about Dr. King's struggle against racial injustice and his significance to American history. A strong advocate for work- ers' rights, he believed that the fight for civil rights and the fight for labor rights were inseparable, and that racial equality was linked to economics. Find lesson plans at bit.ly/MLK_lessons (NEA) and bit.ly/PBS_MLK_curriculum (PBS Learning Media). See our story on Black History Month and the labor movement on page 14. Ed Roberts Day JAN. 23 A public school holiday in California, Ed Roberts Day honors the pioneering leader of the disability rights movement. The first student to attend UC Berkeley in a wheelchair, Roberts was the driving force behind the first student-led disability services program in the world and opened the nation's first Center for Independent Living in Berkeley. Fred Korematsu Day JAN. 30 When the United States went to war with Japan in 1941, all people of Japanese ancestry were forced to relocate to prison camps. Fred Korematsu refused to go. He knew that what the government was doing was unfair, but he was jailed and prosecuted. In 1983, Korematsu's wrongful conviction was overturned and in 1998 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. California is one of several states that celebrate Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution, every Jan. 30. Teach young people about this real-life hero who made our country a fairer place for all Americans; try the book Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (by Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi) or find classroom resources at korematsuinstitute.org. 8 cta.org In the Know