DEI Resources

Martin Luther King Jr. Day  is every third Monday in January and commemorates the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and an activist for nonviolent social change until his assassination in 1968.

January 18 is World Religion Day. This day is observed by those of the Baha’i faith to promote interfaith harmony and understanding.

February is Black History Month. Read more about the importance of celebrating Black History Month in schools here. 

The date of Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar so it usually falls on a different date each year. It begins each year on a new moon, usually coinciding with late January or early February in Western calendars. Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese lunisolar calendar and is recognized by gift giving, parades, decorations, and feasting. 

March is Women's History Month, an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It is celebrated in March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women’s Day on March 8.

March is also National Disability Awareness Month, established to increase awareness and understanding of issues affecting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

April is Arab American Heritage Month. Beginning in the '90s, Arab American heritage was celebrated sporadically in various states, primarily in school districts. It wasn't until 2017 when Arab America began a national initiative to coordinate all states under National Arab American Heritage Month.

April is also Celebrate Diversity Month, which was started in 2004 to recognize and honor the diversity surrounding us all. By celebrating differences and similarities during this month, organizers hope that people will get a deeper understanding of each other.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer, reflection and community. A commemoration of Muhammad's first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next. As part of the Islamic lunar calendar, Ramadan's dates vary according to the lunar cycle. In 2021, Ramadan begins on the evening of Monday, April 12 and ends at sundown on Tuesday, May 11. Eid al-Fitr is the Muslim celebration commemorating the ending of Ramadan.

Passover often falls in April and begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere and is celebrated for seven or eight days. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.

May is Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks on the project were Chinese immigrants.

May is also Jewish American Heritage Month, which was established on April 20, 2006 by former President George W. Bush to recognize the more than 350-year history of Jewish contributions to our culture. 

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, which is a time to celebrate what it means to be LGBTQ+, while demanding equality and liberation from cis and heteronormative constraints. Find out more about Seattle Pride. 

June 19 marks Juneteenth National Freedom Day. "Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863." (Juneteenth World Wide Celebration)

September 15-October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. This month corresponds with Mexican Independence Day, which is celebrated on September 16, and recognizes the revolution in 1810 that ended Spanish dictatorship.

Rosh Hashana takes place on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (September or October on the Gregorian calendar) for most traditional Jews, but only on the first of Tishrei for Reform Jews.. The Jewish New Year, is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year. Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement” is the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar and falls in September or October.

The first week in October is National Diversity Week, which was founded in 1998 to raise awareness about the diversity which has shaped, and continues to shape, the United States.

The second Monday in October is Indigenous Peoples' Day. 2021 marks the first time a U.S. president has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day, which corrects a "whitewashed" American history that has glorified Europeans like Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who have committed violence against Indigenous communities (npr.org)

Multicultural Diversity Day (third Monday in October), a national day created by Cleorah Scruggs, a fourth-grade teacher in Flint, Michigan, the day was adopted as a national event by the NEA’s 1993 Representative Assembly to “increase awareness of the tremendous need to celebrate our diversity collectively.”

November is Native American Heritage Month, also commonly referred to as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose (National Native American Heritage Month).

• Native American Heritage Month | NCAI
• Westside School 2021-2022 School Year Resources

Trans Awareness Week is November 13-19. People and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility about transgender people and address issues members of the community face.

Transgender Awareness Week | GLAAD

Diwali, the “Indian Festival of Lights,” is a four- or five-day celebration in October or November each year. It is a major Hindu holiday that signifies the renewal of life, and the victory of good over evil, and combines a number of festivals to celebrate different gods/goddesses and life events, as described in Hindu tradition.

December 3 is the International Day of People with Disabilities, which recognizes and values the diversity of our global community, and cherishes the role we all play, regardless of our abilities (International Day of People with Disabilities (idpwd.org)).

Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (Human Rights Day | United Nations).

December 25 is Christmas, which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ

December 26-January 1 is Kwanzaa, a holiday established in 1996 by Maulana Karenga as a time for African Americans to “discover and bring forth the best of our culture, both ancient and current, and use it as a foundation to bring into being models of human excellence and possibilities to enrich and expand our lives.”