15
Proclamation of the Republic: Brazil. This commemorates the day in 1889 that Brazil's second Emperor, Dom Pedro II was deposed and the United States of Brazil was declared.

15
Seven, five, Three Festival (Shichi-go-san): Japan. This day is celebrated by children who are seven, five and three years old. They are dressed in their best clothes. Little girls sometimes have their faces powdered white and their hair dressed in adult styles. The children are given bags of thousand-year candy to ensure a long, happy, and healthy life and are taken to shrines by parents to express thanks for good health and to pray for future blessings.

16
W(illiam) C(hristopher) Handy (1873-1958) : African American. Composer, band leader, and publisher. Handy is known as the Father of the Blues for both his work in collecting and popularizing blues and other African American folk music, and his own compositions based on the blues tradition. His best known work is St. Louis Blues, published in 1916.

18
Jan Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941): Polish. Composer, pianist, and statesman. Paderewski, an internationally known virtuoso, interrupted his concert career to work for Poland's independence from Russia. He headed the Polish government briefly in 1919 and was elected president of the Polish Republic in exile in 1939, after the invasion of his country by the Germans and the fall of independent Poland.

19
Discovery of Puerto Rico Day: Puerto Rico. This holiday commemorates the discovery of Puerto Rico by Christopher Columbus in 1493.

20
Anniversary of the Revolution: Mexico. This holiday marks the anniversary of the social revolution launched by Francisco Madero against the dictatorship *of Porfirio Diaz that eventually led to the creation of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the creation of a constitutional democracy.

20
Capture of Alcatraz Island (1969): American Indian. On this date a group of American Indians led by Richard Oakes took over Alcatraz Island, site of a former federal prison, demanding that it be made available to Indians as a cultural center and declaring that all federal surplus property must by law revert to American Indians. The occupation of Alcatraz, which lasted until June 11, 1971, dramatized the long-standing grievances of American Indians against the federal government and signaled the rise of a new activism among Indians.