INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY
“The language of our thoughts and our emotions is our most valuable asset. Multilingualism is our ally in ensuring quality education for all, in promoting inclusion and in combating discrimination. ”
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO Message for International Mother Language Day 2012
2012 International Mother Language Day: Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education
International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 (30C/62).
Photo: Shaheed Minar, a solemn and symbolic sculpture erected in the place of the massacre. The monument is the symbol of Bangladesh Nationalism. SOURCE
On 16 May 2009 the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/61/266 called upon Member States “to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world”. By the same resolution, the General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, to promote unity in diversity and international understanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism.
International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh.
Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS OF MY BLACK SISTERS 
American Sign Language is also a mother language for Deaf people.
There’s a wonderful new book & CD titled “The Hidden Treasure Of Black ASL: Its History And Structure” by Carolyn McCaskill, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Joseph Hill, in collaboration with Roxanne King, Pamela Baldwin, and Randall Hogue. It’s published by Gallaudet University Press.
It sheds much needed light on a part of the Black community & experience little known outside of the Black Deaf community.