Los Angeles County Library: Women's History Month

Los Angeles CA

01 March, 2021

10:04 PM

Description

Press release from the Los Angeles County Library: March 1, 2021 History March is Women's History Month, a time to recognize, celebrate, honor and encourage the study of the contributions and achievements of women in history. We're celebrating all month with programs, activity ideas, and resources for all ages, including live virtual programming, booklists, and digital resources. In addition, we are highlighting incredible women in history and their amazing, but sometimes unknown, contributions to their communities and the world. The first Women's History Week occurred March 1978 in Sonoma County, California. Noticing the program's success, other communities across the country initiated their own Women's History Week. The National Women's History Project, now known as the National Women's History Alliance, and other likeminded organizations successfully lobbied the federal government for national recognition of Women's History Week in 1980. In February of that year, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8, 1980 as National Women's History Week (March 8 is International Women's History Day). President Ronald Reagan passed further proclamations announcing Women's History Weeks, but by then some areas had already extended their celebrations to a month. The Women's National History Project lobbied for a longer observation, and Congress passed a proclamation in 1987 establishing Women's History Month. View a selection of Presidential proclamations and legislative Branch Documents associated with Women's History Month at the Library of Congress. This press release was produced by the Los Angeles County Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.