In March of 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the first Women's History Week to align with International Women's Day, a preceding holiday first celebrated internationally on March 8, 1911. The week has since gained Congressional recognition in honor of the Americans who
have played a unique role throughout our history by providing the majority of the Nation's volunteer labor force and have been particularly important in the establishment of early charitable philanthropic and cultural institutions in the country.
--Joint Resolution, Public Law 97-28.
Subsequently, in 1987, March became a month long celebration of Women's History per the Congressional passing of Public Law 100-9. Every president inaugurated since 1995 has reaffirmed that March is Women's History Month.
The National Women's History Museum created the above video to provide an overview of the history of this celebration.
Alachua County Library District can help you engage with the month through both our collection materials, and the programs we offer. Here are some samplings below.
- Women's History Month Programs
Women's History Month: Women in the Sciences
Thursday, March 14 at 3:00 p.m. ● Headquarters Library
ArtSpace Visual Journaling: Inspiring Women For Women's History Month
Thursday, March 14 at 4:00 p.m. ● Waldo Branch
Waldo Junior Book Club: Women's History Month
Saturday, March 16 at 3:00 p.m. ● Waldo Branch
Women's History Month: Gainesville Roller Rebels
Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 p.m. ● Tower Road Branch
The Page Turners: Women's History Month
Wednesday, March 27 at 3:00 p.m. ● Waldo Branch
The You Story: Inspired by Woman's History
Saturday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. ● Archer Branch
- Books available for checkout
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The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Dreilinger. The term “home economics” may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today.
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Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality, 1920-2020 by Elisabeth Griffith. The Nineteenth Amendment was an incomplete victory. A century later, women are still grappling with how to use the vote and their political power to expand civil rights, confront racial violence, improve maternal health, advance educational and employment opportunities, and secure reproductive rights. Formidable chronicles the efforts of white and Black women to advance sometimes competing causes.
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We Are the Troopers: The Women of the Winningest Team in Pro Football History by Stephan Guinan. This unlikely story follows the Toledo Troopers, a National Women’s Football League team who emerged in the 1970s to challenge traditional gender roles and amass a win-loss record never before or since achieved in American football.
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Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikkie Kendall and A. D'amico. Graphic novel-style primer that covers the key figures and events that have advanced women's rights from antiquity to the modern era. Illuminates the stories of notable women throughout history--from queens and freedom fighters to warriors and spies--and the progressive movements led by women that have shaped history, including abolition, suffrage, labor, civil rights, LGBTQ liberation, reproductive rights, and more.
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American Women's Suffrage: Voices from the Long Struggle for the Vote, 1776-1965. For the first time, here is the full, definitive story of the movement for voting rights in all its diversity and intersectionality, told through the voices of the women and men who lived it: the most recognizable figures in the campaign for women's suffrage, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, but also the black, Chinese, and American Indian women and men who were not only essential to the movement but expanded its directions and aims, and the anti-suffragists who worried about where the country would head if suffrage were universal. The full story of the long and diverse movement that led to women receiving the right to vote-in their own voices.
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We Were There: The Third World Women's Alliance & the Second Wave by Patricia Romney. From 1970 to 1980, the Third World Women's Alliance lived the dream of third world feminism. The small bicoastal organization was one of the earliest groups advocating for what came to be known as intersectional activism, arguing that women of color faced a "triple jeopardy" of race, gender, and class oppression. Interweaving oral history, scholarly and archival research, and first-person memoir, Romney documents how the TWWA shaped and defined second wave feminism.
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Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Kesha Grant. After decades of segregation, women were at the forefront of the civil rights movement, the largest social upheaval since the end of the Civil War. Alongside men, they were leaders, planners, organizers, and protesters. They moved the needle toward groundbreaking legislation. They fought for women's rights and for justice for all. As the nation slowly moved toward political equality for people of color, these steadfast activists, alone or in groups, formed the backbone of the movement. This book tells their story.
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Smithsonian: American Women. A unique, panoramic look at women's history in the United States through the lens of ordinary objects from, by, and for extraordinary women. Featuring more than 280 artifacts from 16 Smithsonian museums and archives, and more than 135 essays from 95 Smithsonian authors, this book tells women's history as only the Smithsonian can.
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Blast Back: Women's Suffrage by Nancy Ohlin. When people think about the women's suffrage movement, things like voting rights and protests may come to mind. But what was the movement all about, and what social change did it bring? This engaging nonfiction book, complete with black-and-white interior illustrations, will make readers feel like they've traveled back in time. It covers everything from the history of women's rights in the U.S. to women's suffrage movements across the world, and more.
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Ordinary Equality: The Fearless Women and Queer People Who Shaped the U.S. Constitution and the Equal Rights Amendment by Kate Kelly. We are all living through modern constitutional history in the making, and Ordinary Equality helps teach about the past, present, and future of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) through the lives of bold fearless women.
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