University Library News

Georgia State University Library

New Resources for Women’s History Month

Like Black History Month, Women’s History Month began as a designated week. Inspired by the success of a Women’s History Week celebration in Sonoma County, California, participants at the 1979 Women’s History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, under the chairmanship of key women’s historian Gerda Lerner (who passed away earlier this year), created similar celebrations and supported an effort to establish a National Women’s History Week. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8th (International Women’s Day) to be National Women’s History Week; that same year Rep. Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican, co-sponsored a Congressional Resolution for National Women’s History Week in 1981. By 1986, enough momentum had gained that supporters successfully lobbied Congress to declare the month of May as National Women’s History Month, declared by Congress in perpetuity in 1987, with a special Presidential Proclamation each year honoring women’s historical contributions. (From National Women’s History Project website)

The Georgia State University Library has many resources available for the study of women’s history. See in particular these intriguing new resources in US women’s history:

Secondary Sources: Learning About Women’s Lives

cover, Jeanne Theoharis, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks

Primary Sources: Women Tell Their Stories

cover, Beverly Deepe Keever, Death Zones and Darling Spies: Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting