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Submitted by edawson on Fri, 04/15/2022 - 10:19

March is Women's History Month

Since 1987, March has been designated as National Women's History Month, a time to pay tribute to the generations of women who changed the face of society through courage and activism.

The National Women’s History Alliance designates a yearly theme for Women's History Month. The 2022 theme is "Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope." This theme is "both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history."

Did you know that the origins of Women's History Month actually began in Sonoma County?

The National Women’s History Project, now known as the National Women’s History Alliance, was founded in Sonoma County 40 years ago. In the 1970s, although groups like the National Organization of Women (NOW) and ERAmerica were fighting to have the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, the topic of women's history was unknown in the public consciousness and in school curricula.

To address this perceived lack, in 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women initiated the first-ever "Women's History Week" celebration. It was a success, with school programs, speakers, an essay contest, and finally a parade held in downtown Santa Rosa as the week’s finale. The image above is from the Santa Rosa Women's History Week parade from 1979. Upon hearing of the success of the Sonoma County program, several prominent women's groups began lobbying for a national celebration—and in 1980, President Carter issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring the first-ever "Women's History Week" in early March of that year. In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women's History Month in perpetuity.

Women's History Month image

 

All thanks to the local community support in Sonoma County!

Sonoma County Library celebrates National Women's History Month with a variety of events, displays, and resources, such as the ones highlighted below. Help us share in this annual tribute by celebrating and learning about the generations of women who have influenced and enriched our nation and society.

Events

The Sonoma County Library is offering a number of virtual events throughout the county to celebrate women. These events include:

Other events happening around Sonoma County in March include:

  • March 2 6:00-7:00pm: Copperfields Books presents a virtual talk with Rebecca Rosenberg and Cara Black https://www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/womens-history-month-rebecca-rosenberg-cara-black-online
  • March 5 1:00-3:00pm: Charles M. Schulz Museum in-person Guest Cartoonist: Liza Donnelly Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists https://schulzmuseum.org/guest-cartoonist-lizadonnelly/*included with museum admission
  • March 6 4:00-5:00pm: Museum of Sonoma County’s Virtual Panel Discussion, Agency: Feminist Art and Power https://museumsc.org/events/?eid=9098
  • March 12 2:00pm: Museum of Sonoma County in-person Tour of Agency: Feminist Art and Power https://museumsc.org/events/?eid=9066*included with museum admission
  • Santa Rosa Junior College’s WHM events https://events.santarosa.edu/
  • Zoom links listed on the SRJC website’s calendar entries:
    • March 2 11am: WHM: Crossing Borders and Boundaries, A Conversation with Bamby Salcedo
    • March 3 7pm: WHM: Abortion: Stories Women Tell Film Screening & Conversation)
    • March 8 12pm: WHM: Schools, Feminism & the Pandemic: Working Women’s Challenges and Successes During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • March 10 12pm: WHM: “Circassian Beauty:” At the Intersection of the Social Construction of Whiteness, Sexism, and Orientalism
    • March 14 12pm: Women & Disability in America
    • March 16 12pm: WHM: My Country Tis of Thee: Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and the early beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement
    • March 30 12pm: Lost in the Black/White Binary: Search for Identity in Interior Chinatown

Books and materials

Featured websites