Celebrate 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage with this collection of books

 

A MIGHTY GIRL says:   "For children today, it's hard to imagine a time when women couldn't vote; realizing that they've had that right for under 100 years is astounding. It's equally shocking when they learn that women had to fight for 72 years before the 19th Amendment — which stated that no citizen could be denied the right to vote on account of sex — became law. So it's imperative that we teach today's children about the struggle for women's suffrage, not just to honor the dedication and sacrifices of the women who led the Women's Suffrage Movement, but also to ensure that future generations don't take the right to vote for granted."

This month, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the US 19th amendment with  books and films about women's suffrage in the United States: the history of the movement, the women who led it forward, and the tremendous challenges that they faced in their quest to ensure that women's voices could be heard at the ballot box. These stories will both educate kids about a critical period in women's history and inspire them to see the power of determined activists and political leaders to make big changes in the world.

Search the web for books about suffrage in both the US and around the world, as well as voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement.  Some are pictured above. Share a book with a girl today!  Happy reading!

The Indigo Girl

The Indigo Girl, by Natasha Boyd.  

Historical fiction set in South Carolina during 1739, Recommended by Irene Orton.

"A wonderful summer read, especially in these turbulent times!

Enjoy, and please keep sharing as we advocate for women everywhere! ~ Irene" 

"The year is 1739. Eliza Lucas is sixteen years old when her father leaves her in charge of their family’s three plantations in rural South Carolina and then proceeds to bleed the estates dry in pursuit of his military ambitions. Tensions with the British, and with the Spanish in Florida, just a short way down the coast, are rising, and slaves are starting to become restless. Her mother wants nothing more than for their South Carolina endeavor to fail so they can go back to England. Soon her family is in danger of losing everything.

Upon hearing how much the French pay for indigo dye, Eliza believes it’s the key to their salvation. But everyone tells her it’s impossible, and no one will share the secret to making it. Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds that her only allies are an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return—against the laws of the day—she will teach the slaves to read.

So begins an incredible story of love, dangerous and hidden friendships, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.

Based on historical documents, including Eliza’s letters, this is a historical fiction account of how a teenage girl produced indigo dye, which became one of the largest exports out of South Carolina, an export that laid the foundation for the incredible wealth of several Southern families who still live on today. Although largely overlooked by historians, the accomplishments of Eliza Lucas influenced the course of US history. When she passed away in 1793, President George Washington served as a pallbearer at her funeral.

This book is set between 1739 and 1744, with romance, intrigue, forbidden friendships, and political and financial threats weaving together to form the story of a remarkable young woman whose actions were before their time: the story of the indigo girl."     Natasha Boyd is a Goodreads Author  

The Boston Girl

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, 

2015, 336 pages, paperback.

A review by Joanne Shawhan, Zonta Club of Albany 

In this novel, Diamant describes family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century. 

Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today?" 

She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. 

The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman's complicated life in twentieth century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.

Long Bright River, by Liz Moore

Long Bright River by Liz Moore, 2020, 496 pages, hardback.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling. 

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit--and her sister--before it's too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

Written by guest reviewer, Joanne Shawhan

The Testaments

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, 2019, fiction, 419 pages, hardback.

Reviewed by Joanne Shawhan

In the sequel, to Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood returns to Gilead, 15 years after the Handmaid called Offred recorded her indelible experiences. Readers will again enter a dystopia of eerie orderliness as women under ruthless surveillance, their social status indicated by cumbersome, color-coded uniforms, are forced into dehumanizing rituals of sex and punishment.

One key character returns, the formidable Aunt Lydia. But in this very different novel, three women tell their stories, the lens widens so that Gilead is seen from the outside, and the focus is not only on men oppressing women, but also on women wielding power. Particularly powerful is the description of how Aunt Lydia went from prisoner to collaborator and active participant in the early days of Gilead. The result is a shrewdly suspenseful tale of survival and resistance.

In Our Backyard: Human Trafficking in America and What We Can Do to Stop It

Joanne Shawhan, guest reviewer, Member, Zonta Club of Albany

In Our Backyard: Human Trafficking in America and What We Can Do to Stop It 

by Nita Belles   ( 2015, 240 pages, paperback)

Modern slavery is happening all around you--and you can be part of the solution

Human trafficking is not just something that happens in other countries. Neither is it something that just happens to "other people" such as runaways or the disenfranchised. Even kids in your own neighborhood can fall victim. But they don't have to.

Human trafficking expert Nita Belles combines heart-wrenching stories, startling research, and boots-on-the-ground advice into a powerful, fast-paced primer on the devastating reality of modern-day slavery and what we can do to stop it.

Twelve feminist books everyone should read, Prepared by UN Women

 Today we have a special - not one book recommendation, but a dozen!
 Thank you, UN Women!