September 1 Holidays

Ginger Cat Appreciation Day was created by Chris Roy in 2015 in honor of his own ginger cat Squeeze, to celebrate the orange tabby — a color produced by high concentrations of pheomelanin — and to drive shelter adoptions for the orange cats that are statistically among the most likely to be overlooked. Emma M. Nutt Day marks September 1, 1878, when Emma M. Nutt became the first female telephone operator in the world, hired by the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company — her appointment began the feminization of the telephone operator profession that would define it for a century. Acne Positivity Day was established to challenge the stigma around acne — a skin condition affecting an estimated 85 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 24 — and to promote self-acceptance for those whose skin does not match airbrushed beauty standards. National Child Identity Theft Awareness Day was created to raise awareness that children are prime targets for identity theft, as their clean credit histories can be exploited for years before detection.