Unmarried and Single Americans Week
September 21 - 27, 2014


Historical Background



A commemorative week known as "National Singles Week" was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohio about 30 years ago. When that organization folded, the promotion of National Singles Week was taken over for a few years by Janet Jacobsen, coordinator of the what then existed as the National Singles Press Association.

National Singles Week (the third full week in September) has been listed on many promotional calendars. Two online greeting card companies have created cards for the occasion. A few years ago, the Washington Post published a story about National Singles Week, as did a few other newspapers.

But despite these modest forms of publicity, National Singles Week was virtually a secret until 2001 when the American Association for Single People (formerly the membership division of Unmarried America) took out ads in newspapers and ran commercials on radio stations. We encouraged newspaper feature editors to use this week as an opportunity to publish stories about single and unmarried people in their communities, and to interview our book author members who have formed a Speaker's Bureau for this occasion. Unfortunately, these efforts were overshadowed by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. As a result, the public relations work did not create the desired results.

In the following years, we renewed and redoubled our efforts, but under a slightly different banner. Many of the millions of unmarried Americans do not identify with the word "single" because they are parents, have partners, or are recently widowed. And yet many other unmarried Americans proudly describe themselves as "single."

In order to accommodate the interest and identities of as many unmarried people as possible, since 2002 we have been commemorating the third week of September as Unmarried and Single Americans Week.  Other individuals and groups continue call it National Singles Week.  Whatever name you use, please join in the celebration.


Singles Celebrations in Other Nations:
Aug. 8-12, 2005: National Singles Week in the UK
Paris fair celebrates single life in France
11-11 is singles' day in China
Miss Spinster Thailand and proud of it
Group petitions Canada for national holiday recognizing singles
Italian singles celebrate St. Faustino day


 


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