Diversify Your Bookshelf: Women’s History Month edition

By Willow Symonds
Staff Writer

Diversify Your Bookshelf introduces readers to books written from marginalized perspectives, including racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, disabled individuals, and more. March is Women’s History Month, so here are some good non-fiction books celebrating female empowerment.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall (2020)

“One of the biggest issues with mainstream feminist writing has been the way the idea of what constitutes a feminist issue is framed. … For a movement that is meant to represent all women, it often centers on those who already have most of their needs met.”

Writer and activist Mikki Kendall reminds readers how effective activism must include more than just middle-class white women’s problems. Through her personal experiences in the South Side of Chicago, she carefully and clearly explains difficult concepts. She examines both arguments of reproductive rights, explains how gentrification hurts minority housing, and explains how generational poverty impacts one’s perception of equality and empowerment, all bridging to a larger point: the fight for equity is not over. ‘Hood Feminism’ is very accessible, no matter the reader’s previous knowledge of intersectional feminism and equality.

“If a liberation movement’s own representatives are engaging with each other oppressively, then what progress can the movement make without fixing that internal problem?”

Pencils, Pens, and Brushes: A Great Girls’ Guide to Disney Animation written by by Mindy Johnson and illustrated by Lorelay Bove (2019)

“With pencils, pens and brushes, plus pure imagination, Great Girls will always create great animation!”

This 77-page picture book documents the many women who worked as Disney animators over the years. These animators contributed much to the 2-D movies we grew up with, whether they designed Disney’s most iconic villains and monsters, innovated how cartoon animals move in each frame, studied chemistry to create unique paint colors for cel animation, or applied their piloting experience to animating flying characters. Don’t be fooled by the illustrations – ‘Pencils, Pens, and Brushes’ is informative and enjoyable for all ages.

“With ideas, talent, and hard work, too, there’s no limit to what Great Girls can do!”

Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Karen Blumenthal (2020)

“Imagine that you’re pregnant, or that your girlfriend is pregnant. What does that mean to you? / What do you want to do? What should you – or another woman – be able to do? / What are you going to do?”

Journalist Karen Blumenthal wrote ‘Jane Against the World’ before the Supreme Court’s 2022 overruling of Roe v. Wade, but that doesn’t make the information less relevant. Instead of taking a strong opinion or trying to persuade the reader to believe one way, most of the book chronicles restrictions and reform on reproductive rights – including birth control, sexual education, and abortion – from 19th century America to modern day. The book mostly focuses on Roe v. Wade, the court case that changed medical privacy and reproductive rights in the United States. ‘Jane Against the World’ provides clear information on a sprawling, often confusing subject in a professional yet conversational tone.

“No matter what the U.S. Supreme Court does, the reality remains: The fight over whether, when, and how a woman has a child is far from over.”