Teacher John De Gree has teamed up with New York Time's National Bestseller, Michael Allen, author of A Patriot's History of the United States of America, to bring to Americans the truth behind our federal holidays. Americans have forgotten the meaning behind its federal holidays. In efforts to revise our country's history and to increase our leisure time, our federal holidays have lost their power. We don't appreciate the peaceful passing of power from one party to another that takes place on Inauguration Day. We don't recall who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We overlook the courage and perseverance of George Washington, the Father of Our Country. Independence Day has become a day of fireworks and feasts, instead of a remembrance of liberty and sacrifices. Memorial Day and Labor Day have become a way to mark the beginning and ending of summer. Christopher Columbus has moved from a place of honor, to dislike, to ignorance in the minds of most. Many schoolchildren falsely believe the first Thanksgiving was held so the Pilgrims could thank the Indians. And Christmas, an official federal holiday, is a word that is not even uttered in public places for fear of offending someone. America's Federal Holidays, The True Story© promotes the heroic people and events that are the reason for America's federal holidays. This book will encourage Americans to appreciate the shared history of our people, understand the meaning behind each day, and strengthen our citizens and our republic. Knowledge and understanding of our history will help students realize the uniqueness of what it means to be an American, and will inspire students to be their best. The American Founding Fathers taught that for a republic to thrive, patriotism would be necessary. In order for citizens to make informed judgments, be inspired to defend their country, and be productive citizens, they should know the decisions earlier Americans made that helped make our country great. Americans should learn what inspired individuals to accomplish challenging tasks. In learning about the great accomplishments of those who came before us, we are inspired to accomplish great tasks, as well. A country with no heroes has no future. America's Federal Holidays, The True Story© provides the teacher and parent with well-written, inspiring histories of our holidays. The religious and faithful history of each day is truthfully taught. It is no coincidence that the United States of America has religion and faith as a cornerstone in its founding and throughout its history. It is a primary reason for the success and duration for the world's first modern republic.Lessons should be read out loud to students in classrooms and to whole families at home. Each lesson has a short essay that describes the most important parts of the holiday. Some lessons include primary source documents. These are followed by 10 text-dependent questions. These questions are designed for ages 8 and older, although there will be some younger children able to answer the questions, and, a few of the questions may be too challenging for some 8 year olds. After the 10 questions, there are a few questions marked “Research and Analysis.” For this, the teacher may assign one or all of the activities for the student to do on his own. These activities are more challenging than the 10 text-dependent questions, and are appropriate for ages 12 and older.

This book is the result of Dr. Alan Bruce (A. Bruce) Clark’s decades of study, and it discusses the impact of the world’s major events upon the Annual, Federal Holidays of the United States of America, which start with New Year’s Day and end with Christmas Day. Dr. Clark wrote corporate histories for Historic Houston, a book that President George H. W. Bush also helped write and Dr. Clark, for several years, wrote the monthly feature articles in the E. W. Forbes Report, which received written praise from many world-renown leaders, including Dr. Denton Cooley who performed the first heart transplant in the USA. He wrote these articles before the death of Elroy Forbes, a Vietnam War veteran exposed to Agent Orange and honored by multiple Houston mayors with an "E. W. Forbes Day." ​​​​​​​​​​ In a strict sense, there are no national holidays when every person living in the United States is not working. However, there are eleven holidays that the Federal Government of the USA declared as annual celebrations. Five of these holidays occur on specific dates, provided the calendar days do not occur on weekends, while the dates for the other six holidays vary from year to year. This book is the result of Professor Clark’s providing handouts to his students about each Annual Federal Holiday, and their encouraging Alan Bruce Clark, PhD to compile the articles into an easy-to-read, interesting book. Dr. Clark wrote this book to show the terrific contributions made to America by those of different racial heritages, genders and creeds. As for Dr. Clark's ancestry it includes those who came to the United States on the Mayflower and his predecessors are buried in Hickory Grove Cemetery in Waverly, Pennsylvania along with the Underground Railroad African-Americans they supported. Thus, this work incorporated insights provided by African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native-Americans. As noted, even the New Year's celebration, which did not originally occur on January 1, has elements of the world's major ethnic groups. History buffs, patriotic Americans, teachers wanting a unique required textbook for their students, librarians, active military personnel, veterans, children, teenagers, young adults, retirees, seniors, citizens, residents, business leaders, community leaders, political leaders, unions and even those who do business with American companies and/or are contemplating a visit or moving to the "land of opportunity" will greatly benefit from this book. This is due to its providing details on the history and customs behind the New Year's Day, Birthday of Martin Luther, King, Jr., Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day Celebrations. This book even has events planned through 2025 and is dedicated to all Americans past, present and future. It is because of their devotion, determination and hard work that the United States became a great nation and that it can become even better.​​​​​​​ Each annual holiday has its own rich heritage, which all Americans, regardless of their personal beliefs, can appreciate and respect. The reason is that the sacrifices of others made the USA great. More importantly, the United States can become even better with your dedication and commitment. Having said these things, it is hoped that you will enjoy this trip through the Annual Federal Holidays of the United States of America! Businesspersons can give this book to clients, employees and schools. Likewise, government officials can present this book to military personnel and other public servants to let them know that their efforts are deeply appreciated, while teachers can order this book for their history, American culture and U.S. citizenship courses. Dr. Clark thanks you for your interest in this book and hopes that it will bless you in a very special way.

Every holiday has a history, and this set sets out to describe them all. A chronologically organized reference guide to the history of American celebratory days, past, present, and emergent, it focuses on each holiday's cultural and political significance.

July 4th, Election Day, Christmas, and New Year's Eve: reading about our American national holidays is not only fun, it is a way of exploring our diverse culture and values. How do we celebrate Memorial Day? What is the history of Thanksgiving? What does "Be my valentine" mean?Special features: 4 appendices of typical holiday gifts, traditional holiday songs, readings for the holidays, a listing of other holidays in the US, the official national holiday of each country in the world.

American Holidays is a vocabulary development text for English language learners focusing on words which are associated with the traditions, customs, and backgrounds of the special days celebrated in the United States, including the most recently established federal holiday, Juneteenth. The key vocabulary is presented in twenty-three readings, each associated with a specific holiday. Grammar exercises, reading comprehension questions, and discussion prompts are also included in each chapter.

The Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, and other celebrations matter to Americans and reflect the state of American local and national politics. Commemorations of cataclysmic events and light, apparently trivial observances mirror American political and cultural life. Both reveal much about the material conditions of the United States and its citizens' identities, historical consciousness, and political attitudes. Lying dormant within these festivals is the potential for political consequence, controversy, even transformation. American political fetes remain works in progress, as Americans use historical celebrations as occasions to reinvent themselves and their nation, often with surprising results. In six engaging chapters 'assaying particular political holidays over the course of their histories, Red, White, and Blue Letter Days examines how Americans have shaped and been shaped by their calendar. Matthew Dennis explores this vast political and cultural terrain, charting how Americans defined their identities through celebration. Independence Day invited African Americans to demand the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence, for example, just as Columbus Day—celebrating the Italian, Catholic explorer—helped immigrants proclaim their legitimacy as Americans. Native Americans too could use public holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Veterans Day, to express dissent or demonstrate their claims to citizenship. Merchants and advertisers colonized the American calendar, moving in to sell their products by linking them, often tenuously, with holiday occasions or casting consumption as a patriotic act.

The manger or Macy's? Americans might well wonder which is the real shrine of Christmas, as they take part each year in a mix of churchgoing, shopping, and family togetherness. But the history of Christmas cannot be summed up so easily as the commercialization of a sacred day. As Penne Restad reveals in this marvelous new book, it has always been an ambiguous meld of sacred thoughts and worldly actions-- as well as a fascinating reflection of our changing society. In Christmas in America, Restad brilliantly captures the rise and transformation of our most universal national holiday. In colonial times, it was celebrated either as an utterly solemn or a wildly social event--if it was celebrated at all. Virginians hunted, danced, and feasted. City dwellers flooded the streets in raucous demonstrations. Puritan New Englanders denounced the whole affair. Restad shows that as times changed, Christmas changed--and grew in popularity. In the early 1800s, New York served as an epicenter of the newly emerging holiday, drawing on its roots as a Dutch colony (St. Nicholas was particularly popular in the Netherlands, even after the Reformation), and aided by such men as Washington Irving. In 1822, another New Yorker named Clement Clarke Moore penned a poem now known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," virtually inventing the modern Santa Claus. Well-to-do townspeople displayed a German novelty, the decorated fir tree, in their parlors; an enterprising printer discovered the money to be made from Christmas cards; and a hodgepodge of year-end celebrations began to coalesce around December 25 and the figure of Santa. The homecoming significance of the holiday increased with the Civil War, and by the end of the nineteenth century a full- fledged national holiday had materialized, forged out of borrowed and invented custom alike, and driven by a passion for gift-giving. In the twentieth century, Christmas seeped into every niche of our conscious and unconscious lives to become a festival of epic proportions. Indeed, Restad carries the story through to our own time, unwrapping the messages hidden inside countless movies, books, and television shows, revealing the inescapable presence--and ambiguous meaning--of Christmas in contemporary culture. Filled with colorful detail and shining insight, Christmas in America reveals not only much about the emergence of the holiday, but also what our celebrations tell us about ourselves. From drunken revelry along colonial curbstones to family rituals around the tree, from Thomas Nast drawing the semiofficial portrait of St. Nick to the making of the film Home Alone, Restad's sparkling account offers much to amuse and ponder.