March is Women's History Month

In March of each year, people across the United States celebrate Women’s History Month. According to the event's website , the path toward establishing Women's History Month started in 1978 with a weeklong California celebration that was deemed a success.

In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) cosponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a Women’s History Week. In 1987, the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to expand the celebration to the entire month of March. Since then, Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump have made proclamations approving March as National Women’s History Month. If you would like to read topics in women’s history, your library can help; the books highlighted below are two of our newest.

“Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains,” by Cassie Chambers.

Cassie Chambers grew up in these hollers and, through the women who raised her, she traces her own path out of and back into the Kentucky Mountains. Chambers’ Granny was a child bride who rose before dawn every morning to raise seven children. Despite her poverty, she wouldn’t hesitate to give the last bite of pie or vegetables from her garden to a struggling neighbor. Her two daughters took very different paths: strong-willed Ruth — the hardest-working tobacco farmer in the county — stayed on the family farm, while spirited Wilma — the sixth child — became the first in the family to graduate from high school, then moved an hour away for college. Married at 19 and pregnant with Cassie a few months later, Wilma beat the odds to finish school. She raised her daughter to think she could move mountains, like the ones that kept her safe but also isolated her from the larger world.

“Women: Our Story,” by DK.

Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women's history — from early matriarchal societies through women's suffrage, the Suffragette movement, 20th-century feminism, and gender politics, to recent movements such as #MeToo and International Women's Day — and the key role women have had in shaping our past.

Storytime: Preschoolers and their caregivers are invited to join us for Storytime on Thursday, March 12 and Saturday, March 14 at 10:30 a.m. A different theme is explored each week. Daycares and other large groups are asked to call ahead.

Baby Bounce is scheduled for Friday, March 13 at 10:30 a.m. in the main meeting room of the Detroit Lakes Public Library. Enjoy songs, stories, flannel board, and action poems, geared for infants and toddlers along with their caregivers.

Furry Friends: Read to a Dog is scheduled for Saturday, March 14 at 11:00 a.m. Kids can practice reading aloud to to a furry friend from Pet Partners. Sign you child up to read with Norman, a certified therapy animal, by calling the library at 218-847-2168 or stopping in at 1000 Washington Ave. Each session is 15 minutes long; first come/sign up basis. All ages welcome.

The library’s regular hours are as follows: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and all national holidays.

Lake Agassiz Regional Library (LARL) is a consolidated public library system comprised of 13 branch libraries and nine LINK sites serving the residents of seven counties in northwest Minnesota. Besides Detroit Lakes, LARL’s other branch libraries are located in Ada, Bagley, Barnesville, Breckenridge, Climax, Crookston, Fertile, Fosston, Hawley, Mahnomen, McIntosh and Moorhead. LARL’s LINK sites are found in Cormorant, Frazee, Gonvick, Halstad, Hendrum, Lake Park, Rothsay, Twin Valley and Ulen.

For more information on local library services and programs, call 218-847-2168 or visit the Detroit Lakes Public Library at 1000 Washington Ave. Information can also be found online at www.larl.org , as well as via the library’s app, LARL Mobile, available in the iTunes and Google Play stores for free download.