July 26 Holidays

National Disability Independence Day marks July 26, 1990, when President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act — the landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, and government services, protecting an estimated 61 million Americans. National Aunt and Uncle Day was created to celebrate the aunts and uncles who provide children with an alternative adult relationship — part mentor, part confidant, part source of age-inappropriate snacks. Liberia Independence Day marks July 26, 1847, when Liberia declared independence — the first African nation to declare independence in the modern era and the oldest Black republic in the world. National Bagelfest Day celebrates the boiled-then-baked ring of yeasted dough that Jewish immigrants brought from Eastern Europe to New York City in the 1880s — a food that took nearly a century to spread beyond New York before becoming a national breakfast staple. Civil rights, an aunt’s unconditional love, a flag raised in 1847, and a cream-cheese-ready ring.