Category: Social Justice
“How Dare They Take Away My Right To Education?” Happy birthday, Malala Yousafzai!
On July 12, the world celebrates the birthday of Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist, author, and speaker, Malala Yousafzai. While perhaps most widely known for being shot in the head by a member of the Taliban on the way home from school and surviving, Malala was an outspoken advocate of girls’ rights and education before that. Make plans for the children and young adults in your libraries and classrooms to discover her work and message.
Happy Birthday, Maya Angelou
Dr. Angelou’s words urge us all to push past our fears, our anger, our hate. To find freedom in the good, the kind, the welcoming. To embrace our neighbor, both human and the world. To rise and feel the pulse of a new day.
Forget Conventionalisms: A Susan B. post for Women’s History Month
Celebrating the remarkable, revolutionary role that Susan B. Anthony played not just in helping gain suffrage for women but in advocating for intellectual freedom.
Why I am Keeping Seuss Books
By: guest contributor Carole Soden; “I fully understand why some libraries feel more comfortable not using Dr. Seuss books but I feel there is also another approach.”
The Life and Death of Abolitionist, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist: Frederick Douglass
A brief look into the life and death of the great Frederick Douglass, a true freedom fighter.
Integrating Libraries and Books
The Jim Crow south not only meant separate drinking fountains and restrooms. It also meant separate libraries and books. Laws and local policies also placed restrictions on what could be disseminated and published. Dr. King–as well as those who worked to build libraries and ensure that they be free to use–operated within this system and sought to get rid of this system.
An Interview with Author Lady Dane Figeuroa Edidi
Edidi is a black trans woman, writer, poet, musician, priestess and performance artist. Her novel, “Yemaya’s Daughters,” is a work of otherworldly fiction.
Dispatches from the Houghton Library, Part Two: Who’s In and Who’s Out?
Are admissions policies at the world’s most exclusive colleges fair? How do they even determine what “fair” is? And does this presence or absence of fairness affect our intellectual freedom?
The Tor e-book embargo and reluctant readers
With the major success of science fiction and fantasy films based on novels recently including The Hunger Games (not published by Tor) and Ender’s Game (published by Tor), I have long thought that science fiction and fantasy was a great “gate way” genre for reluctant teen readers in particular. Therefore, as a librarian and a buyer of Tor’s books myself I would add my voice to those asking Tor and Macmillan to reconsider this embargo.
Is literacy a right? My internal conflict
A federal district court ruling earlier this month which held that there is no clearly established constitutional right to literacy in the United States has reminded me that the various pieces of my background are sometimes in conflict with one another.