Recommended Women's History Month Reading from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

March is Women’s History Month, a commemoration which began as International Working Women’s Day in 1911. It was expanded to Women’s History Week in 1980 via presidential proclamation and then to Women’s History Month in 1987 by a joint resolution of Congress.

Women's History Month recognizes the contributions of women in many economic, cultural and social roles. Women have been productive members of the labor force, active in charitable philanthropic and cultural institutions and leaders in the drives for major social changes.

Some books recognizing the roles of women that are available from the Tennessee Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (TLBPH) include:

Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, contains biographical sketches of 20 powerful women. Some are familiar names like Cleopatra and Eleanor Roosevelt. Others are less well-known individuals such as Rigoberta Menchu, who fought for the rights of native people in Guatemala; Nzingha, the warrior queen of Matamba; and Angola, who negotiated with the Portuguese in the 1500s to keep peace and power for the Mbundu. Written for grades 4 through 8, this book is available in both audio and braille formats.

Bad Girls of the Bible, and What We Can Learn From Them, by Liz Curtis Higgs, is a humorous fictional retelling of the stories of 10 Biblical women, including Eve, Delilah, Jezebel, and the woman at the well. It is available in audio and large print formats.

And no library collection would be complete without Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life, which TLBPH has available in audio, braille, and large print formats. TLBPH also has a newer book, Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan, a fictionalized account of the love affair between Helen and her private secretary, Peter Fagan. This title is available from TLBPH in braille.

For more information on TLBPH, go to: http://sos.tn.gov/tsla/lbph.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State