Women's History Month 2024

Celebrate Women’s History Month with HCPL!  What better way to kick off Women’s History Month than with a quote from this year’s All Henrico Reads title, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by author Cheryl Strayed:

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told... I was strong.” – Cheryl Strayed, Wild

We invite you to attend a lecture, performance, or film at the library this March to learn about fearless women who had the courage to write their own stories, forge new paths, and impact history. Read on for more details about our upcoming programs and recommended titles about trailblazing women from our collection.  

PROGRAMS

• Maggie Walker: An American Pioneer
  • Saturday, March 9, 2:30 – 3:30PM at North Park
  • In celebration of Women's History Month, Theresa Gee will portray Richmond native, Maggie L. Walker. Learn about Ms. Walker's contributions to education, her "Penny Bank" theory, and how she became a financial genius and the first woman bank president.

• Historically Speaking: What’s Your Sign? Ephemera and Women’s Activism
  • Tuesday, March 19, 7 – 8PM at Libbie Mill
  • In honor of Women's History Month, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture will join us to examine women's rights movements in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From protest signs to political buttons, participants will analyze how demonstrations evolved over time and engage in discussions of how women have shaped the country's political, social, and economic environments. This program is held in partnership with Henrico County Recreation and Parks, History Division. 

• Celebrate Women’s History Month with Barbara Johns
  • Saturday, March 23, 11AM – 12PM at Fairfield
  • Come meet Barbara Johns, portrayed by Theresa Gee, and learn about how a 16-year-old girl started a student strike that ended with the Brown v. Board of EducationSupreme Court decision against "separate but equal" public schools. Sponsored by Friends of the Library.

• Women’s History Month Film Discussion
  • Wednesday, March 27, 6 – 8:30PM at Twin Hickory
  • In honor of Women's History Month, On the Basis of Sex(PG-13, 2018), tells the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affectionately known as the Notorious RBG, during her early law career. Discuss how her landmark cases impacted her career and equal rights. 

• Ballot Battle: Richmond’s Social Struggle for Women’s Suffrage
  • Wednesday, March 27, 6:30 – 7:30PM at Tuckahoe
  • To highlight the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, this program will profile five Richmond viewpoints and the racial and generational tensions exposed by the fight for women's suffrage. Participate in this interactive history program "Ballot Battle" presented by the Valentine Museum.

COLLECTION

This list only scratches the surface of what’s available in our collection. Looking for more inspiring reads? Try our My Next Read service to receive a customized list of titles from one of our librarians!

PICTURE BOOKS

• Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor
• Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome (also available on Hoopla)
• Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos by Monica Brown (also available on Hoopla)
• The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca (also available on Hoopla)
• Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed (also available on Hoopla)
• On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison by Jerdine Nolen
• Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré by Anika Denise (also available Hoopla)
• The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali
• Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll! Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll by Tonya Bolden
• Shark Lady: The True Story of how Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating (also available on Hoopla)
• We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (also available on Hoopla)

KIDS

• Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar (also available on Hoopla)
• Amina’s Voice by Hena Kahn (also available on Hoopla)
• Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson (also available on Hoopla)
• Born Reading: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way into History by Kathleen Krull
• DK Life Stories: Anne Frank by Stephen Krensky
• Ink Girls by Marieke Nijkamp
• Onyeka series by Tolá Okogwu
• She Persisted: Malala Yousafzai by Aisha Saeed
• U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team: Winning On and Off the Field by Heather E. Schwartz (also available on Hoopla)
• We’re In This Together: A Young Readers Edition of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders by Linda Sarsour

TEENS

• The Bones of Birka: Unraveling the Mystery of a Female Viking Warrior by C.M. Surrisi (also available on Hoopla)
• Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• Go with the Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann
• Lumberjanes series by various authors (available on Hoopla)
• #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Lisa Charleyboy (also available on Hoopla)
• The Radium Girls: The Scary but True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark by Kate Moore (also available on Hoopla)
• The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis
• Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
• Wonderful Women of the World edited by Laurie Halse Anderson (also available on Hoopla)
• You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves edited by Diana Whitney (also available on Hoopla)

ADULTS

• Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur (also available on Hoopla)
• Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann
• The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limón (also available on Hoopla)
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
• Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words by Jenni Nuttal
• Ordinary Equality: The Fearless Women and Queer People Who Shaped the U.S. Constitution and the Equal Rights Amendment by Kate Kelly
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• Twice as Hard: The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians, From the Civil War to the 21st Century by Jasmine Brown
• Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger
• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda