International Left-Handers Day is this month and there are several ways to celebrate our lefty friends.
That’s right! (I mean, correct). This annual holiday is celebrated on Aug. 13 of every year to “celebrate the uniqueness and differences of left-handed individuals,” according to the Left-Handers Club. The day was established in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell.
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Those who are left-handed may face challenges on a day-to-day basis, including a lack of accommodating tools and resources. However, they have some unique opportunities available to them.
Those interested can join Left-Handers Club to stay up-to-date with developments, news and advice on issues that impact them. There are also several scholarships for left-handed students searching for financial assistance options to attend college.
There are several ways to celebrate this year’s holiday. This includes giving some recognition to those writing their own, unique stories with their left hand in a predominantly right-handed world, as only 7-10% of the world’s population is left-handed, according to the Left-Handers Club.
Listed below are five famous people who have left their lasting mark on history (using their left hand, of course).
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey is a famous, left-handed American talk show host, television producer, actress, author and media proprietor and philanthropist. She is often credited for her influence on media communication, bringing a more intimate, confessional form of discussion to both broadcast and entertainment.
Winfrey has won many awards throughout her career and received honorary doctorate degrees from multiple universities. She was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and named “arguably the world’s most powerful woman” by CNN and TIME in the early 2000s.
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer. He became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969, making “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (and left-handed people)!
Armstrong was also a naval aviator, test pilot and university professor. He had a love of flight from an early age and earned his student pilot’s license before even obtaining his driver’s license. Armstrong made a substantial impact on the U.S.’s space exploration efforts and changed the course of history.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian academic in the Renaissance period who is well-known for his work as a painter, most notably the Mona Lisa. However, he was also very active in the emerging fields of science, engineering, architecture, sculpting and more.
Da Vinci has also become recognized for his personal notebooks, which contain numerous of his (left-handed!) drawings and notes about a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for 27 years. Though she was not the first Supreme Court justice to write her opinions with her left hand, she was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court.
Ginsburg graduated first in her class from Columbia Law School in New York. She also was a professor at the Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the only women in her field.
Napolean
Napoleon Bonaparte was a prominent French military and political leader of Italian descent during the French Revolution who led a series of successful campaigns across Europe. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history and “Napoleonic tactics” are still studied at military schools all over the world.
Napoleon was left-handed and often used this to his advantage over his opponents by attacking from the right side of the road. In the European world of that time, it was routine to stick to the left. His tendency made a lasting mark on history as he ruled every place he conquered must drive on the right.
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