Celebrate Women’s History Month!

“In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians—led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women’s History Alliance)—successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week. ”  -from National Women’s History Museum

 

January 2024: MLK Day Observed January 15th

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is observed annually on the third Monday in January. The day commemorates the life and work of Dr. King, who was a Baptist minister and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. People are encouraged to use the day to “reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change espoused by Dr. King.” The holiday is typically observed with events such as marches and rallies and speeches by politicians and civil rights leaders.

King was born on January 15, 1929. He rose to the fore of the civil rights movement in 1955 with the Montgomery bus boycott that followed the arrest of Rosa Parks, an African American woman who had violated the city’s racial segregation ordinances when she refused to give her seat on a bus to a white passenger. An advocate of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of using nonviolent resistance to effect social change, King promoted the use of nonviolent means to bring an end to racial segregation in the United States. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts. He was assassinated in 1968.

Efforts to create a national holiday honoring King began soon after his assassination, although legislation for a federal holiday was not passed until 1983. The first nationwide observance of the holiday occurred in 1986.

McKenna, Amy. “Why We Celebrate MLK Day”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Jan. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/story/martin-luther-king-jr-day. Accessed 11 January 2024.

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month!

 

“Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.”

-From hispanicheritagemonth.gov

Image by Freepik

March is Women’s History Month!

 

Women’s History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women’s Day on March 8, and during October in Canada.

The commemoration began in 1978 as “Women’s History day” in Sonoma County, California, and was championed by Gerda Lerner and the National Women’s History Alliance to be recognized as a national week (1980) and then month (1987) in the United States, spreading internationally after that.

The 1980 proclamation stated, “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

The theme of Women’s History Week in 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”

Watch the video below about Women in STEM you may not know about, and come to the library to check out a biography or nonfiction book about women in history and today. We also have a Trivia Contest for prizes!

 

Celebrate Black History Month!

The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.

That September, the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and the prominent minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent.

The group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.

President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” 

Check out the videos below of Black Inventors, Tech Pioneers, and Five Facts you may not already know!

And in the library, come complete the Matching Contest of famous authors and quotes and potentially win a Texas Honey Ham or Tiff’s Treats gift card!