On this day in history, March 8th, we celebrate International Women's Day! In 1857, a group of fearless women in New York initiated a movement, bravely standing up for their rights and laying the groundwork for what would become the women's labor movement. Fast forward to 1911, and the world officially recognizes March 8th as International Women's Day, a global celebration of women's achievements and a call for gender equality. Each year, International Women's Day is celebrated with a specific theme chosen to highlight various issues affecting women globally. Themes have ranged from "Equality for Women is Progress for All" to "Choose to Challenge." This day serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for women's rights and the progress that has been made worldwide. International Women's Day aims to promote gender equality, celebrate women's accomplishments, and raise awareness about women's rights issues around the world.
To test your knowledge of influential women, historical milestones, and more, check out this quiz, The Ultimate Women's Day Trivia Quiz.
Interested in learning more? Explore the following resources from the library databases:
Books
Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction America reveals how woman suffrage and black suffrage came to a bitter falling-out in the midst of Reconstruction, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton opposed the 15th Amendment because it omitted the voting rights of women.
Read about how politics have helped transform, and have been transformed by, American public debate and the evolution of the positions of both parties on women's rights over the past five decades in The Politics of Women's Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change.
Through a mix of qualitative and quantitative evidence, The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment explains the success and failures of efforts for woman suffrage provisions as the result of successful and failed coalitional politics between the suffrage movement and important constituencies.
Videos
In Black Women in America & Their Fight for Voting Rights, learn about the role Black women played during the 19th and 20th centuries in the struggle for universal suffrage, and their impact on getting the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments passed.
How could America claim to be the world’s greatest democracy, but deny the right to vote to women for so long? With an introduction by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, One Woman, One Vote documents the events that culminated in the passing of the 19th Amendment.
Join Ann Curry as two women search for friends and colleagues who forged a path for equal rights. In The Fight for Women's Rights, one of the first female commercial pilots wants to thank her mentor, and an advocate hopes to find the woman who inspired her to join a movement.
Carrie Woodhouse is the library's project manager and oversees many of the library's day-to-day processes. She enjoys taking walks and regularly visits a murder of crows in her neighborhood, who now recognize her when she's out and about.