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Women's History Month
March
Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories
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March is set aside to honor women’s contributions to American history. The National Women’s History Alliance selects and publishes the yearly theme. The 2024 Women’s History Month theme is Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, recognizing the women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more. This year's theme honors women throughout the country who understand that, for a positive future, we need to eliminate bias and discrimination entirely from our lives and institutions.
The following is a selected list of recently published books, videos, and websites that will help you learn more about women in history. All books and videos are available at the Norfolk Public Library, and the websites may be viewed online at any of the public computer stations located in the library or from home. Visit www.norfolkpubliclibrary.org for a list of events celebrating Women’s History Month at Norfolk Public Library.
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A D U L T
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Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships
NINA TOTENBERG - Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
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Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Four years before Nina Totenberg was hired... |
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The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Toni Morrison - Vintage
Format: Paperback
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Here is Toni Morrison in her own words: a rich gathering of her most important essays and speeches, spanning four decades. These pages give us her searing prayer for the dead of 9/11, her Nobel lecture on the power of language, her searching meditation on Martin Luther King Jr., her heart-wrenching... |
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I'm Glad My Mom Died
JENNETTE MCCURDY - Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
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A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor - including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother - and how she retook control of her life. Jennette McCurdy was six years... |
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The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
RANDOM HOUSE. - Crown
Format: Book
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In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world. There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers... |
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Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories
Kelly Ripa
Format: Hardcover
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A sharp, funny, and honest collection of real-life stories from Kelly Ripa, showing the many dimensions and crackling wit of the beloved daytime talk show host.In Live Wire, her first book, Kelly shows what really makes her tick. As a professional, as a wife, as a daughter and as a mother,... |
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Finding Me: A Memoir
Viola Davis - HarperOne
Format: Hardcover
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Finding Me is Viola Davis' story, in her own words, and spans her incredible, inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present day. Hers is a story of overcoming, a true hero's journey. Deeply personal, brutally honest, and riveting, Finding Me is a timeless... |
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Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory
Janet Malcolm - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover
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For decades, Janet Malcolm's books and dispatches for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books poked and prodded at reportorial and biographical convention, gesturing toward the artifice that underpins both public and private selves. In Still Pictures, she turns her gimlet eye on her own life... |
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I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir
Debra Lee - Legacy Lit
Format: Hardcover
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A riveting memoir by the former CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET) , about the glamorous and ugly moments of being a high-powered Black woman executive in the entertainment industry. As an incredible glass-ceiling breaker and the woman who brought timeless television shows like... |
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The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters
Joanna Gaines - Harper Select
Format: Hardcover
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In her first solo memoir, New York Times bestselling author Joanna Gaines invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable journey into her story--and helps shine a light on the beauty of our own--guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so we may live and share our story in truth.We've... |
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Walking in My Joy: In These Streets
JENIFER LEWIS - HarperAudio
Format: Audiobook
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In this exciting collection infused with her sharp humor and buoyant spirit, Jenifer Lewis, the author of the hugely successful The Mother of Black Hollywood and costar of ABC's hit sitcom Black-ish, shares the way she found the strength and courage to walk in her joy despite personal... |
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Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER - Harper
Format: Hardcover
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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women, the first ever authorized biography of the most famous movie star of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Taylor.No celebrity rivals Elizabeth Taylor's glamour and guts or her level of fame. She was the last... |
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The Soul of a Woman
Isabel Allende
Format: Hardcover
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"When I say that I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating," begins Isabel Allende. As a child, she watched her mother, abandoned by her husband, provide for her three small children without "resources or voice." Isabel became a fierce and defiant little... |
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The Truths We Hold: An American Journey
KAMALA HARRIS - Penguin Press
Format: Hardcover
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From one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country.Senator Kamala Harris's commitment to speaking truth... |
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Collective Wisdom: Lessons, Inspiration, and Advice from Women over 50
Grace Bonney - Artisan
Format: Hardcover
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POWERFUL WISDOM FROM THE ELDERS OF OUR COMMUNITIES In this rich and multilayered collection of interviews, conversations, and intimate photographs, over 100 trailblazing women describe the ups, downs, and lessons learned while forging their unique paths. Collective Wisdom celebrates the stories... |
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Women: Our Story
DK - DK
Format: Hardcover
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Reexamining history from a female perspective, this book celebrates the pivotal but less well-known roles women have played in culture and society.Packed full of evocative images, this gloriously illustrated book reveals the key events in women's history--from early matriarchal societies... |
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Women: The National Geographic Image Collection
National Geographic - National Geographic
Format: Hardcover
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This powerful photography collection, drawn from the celebrated National Geographic archive, reveals the lives of women from around the globe, accompanied by revelatory new interviews and portraits of contemporary trailblazers including Oprah Winfrey, Jane Goodall, and Christiane Amanpour.#MeToo.... |
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T E E N
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Ms. Gloria Steinem: A Life
Conkling, Winifred - FEIWEL & FRIENDS
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Gloria Steinem was no stranger to injustice even from a young age. Her mother, Ruth, having suffered a nervous breakdown at only 34, spent much of Gloria's childhood in and out of mental health facilities. And when Gloria was only 10 years old, her father divorced her mother and left... |
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Film Makers: 15 Groundbreaking Women Directors
Miller-Lachman, Lyn
Format: Book
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n Hollywood, women don't have to be in front of the camera to shine.
Each of the 15 women profiled in Film Makers shares a common trait: she is, as Shonda Rhimes says, “First. Only. Different.”
These... |
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Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein
LITA JUDGE - Roaring Brook Press
Format: Hardcover
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"Both timely and terrifying." -- Gregory Macguire, New York Times-bestselling author of WickedPairing free verse with over three hundred pages of black-and-white watercolor illustrations, Mary's Monster is a unique and stunning biography of Mary Shelley,... |
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Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry (9) (Women of Power)
Ashley Walker - Chicago Review Press
Format: Hardcover
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Nothing moves us like music. Music Mavens transports readers around the world (and beyond) - to a jazz performance in Genoa, an instrument lab in London, a Tokyo taiko dojo, a New York City beatbox battle, and even a film scoring session aboard the starship Enterprise, to name a few. Along... |
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Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World
PNLOPE BAGIEU - First Second
Format: Paperback
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Throughout history and across the globe, one characteristic connects the daring women of Brazen: their indomitable spirit. With her characteristic wit and dazzling drawings, celebrated graphic novelist Pnlope Bagieu profiles the lives of these feisty female role models, some world... |
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Jane Against the World
Karen Blumenthal - Square Fish; Reprint edition
Format: Paperback
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From award-winning author Karen Blumenthal, Jane Against the World examines the riveting history of the fight for reproductive rights in the United States -- and how Roe v. Wade was only the beginning.Here is a journalistic look at the history of abortion perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin... |
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Dissenter On The Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Life and Work
Victoria Ortiz - Clarion Books
Format: Hardcover
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A 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Book The life and career of the fiercely principled Supreme Court Justice, now a popular icon, with dramatic accounts of her landmark cases that moved the needle on legal protection of human rights, illustrated with b/w archival photographs. Dramatically narrated... |
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Trailblazing Women!: Amazing Americans Who Made History
Deborah G. Felder - Visible Ink Press
Format: Paperback
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Women have accomplished incredible things throughout American history. They've made and changed history. They've contributed revolutionary new ideas and moved science forward. Their inventions, businesses, literature, art, and activism helped build the nation. They've succeeded... |
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J U V E N I L E
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Who Is Ketanji Brown Jackson? (Who HQ Now)
SHELIA P MOSES - Penguin Workshop
Format: Paperback
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Discover how a young girl who was the star of her school's debate team became a federal jurist and the first Black woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court in this exciting addition to the Who HQ Now series that features newsmakers and trending topics.Born in Washington, DC, in 1970,... |
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Greta Thunberg
Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara - Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Format: Hardcover
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Part of the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, Greta Thunberg tells the inspiring true story of the environmental activist. When young Greta learned of the climate crisis she stopped talking. She couldn't understand why people in power were not doing anything to save... |
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Maya's Song
RENEE WATSON - HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover
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From bestselling, award-winning creators Renée Watson and Bryan Collier comes a stunningly crafted picture book chronicling the life of poet and activist Maya Angelou.This unforgettable picture book introduces young readers to the life and work of Maya Angelou, whose words have uplifted... |
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That's Betty!: The Story of Betty White
Gregory Bonsignore
Format: Hardcover
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Betty White is a legend and icon (but you already knew that) . In her eighty-year career, she has starred on some of the most beloved shows of all time (like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, along with dozens more) and has received multiple Emmy, American Comedy, and Screen... |
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RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
Carole Boston Weatherford - Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
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From a creative team with multiple Caldecott Honors comes this vibrant portrait of Aretha Franklin that pays her the R-E-S-P-E-C-T this Queen of Soul deserves.Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days... |
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Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes "the French Chef"
Alex Prud'homme
Format: Book
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How did Julia Child become one of America's most celebrated and beloved chefs Her grandnephew reveals her story in this picture book that Jacques Pepin calls a "vivid portrait . . . an enjoyable read." Julia's kid-friendly recipe for Oeufs Brouills (Scrambled Eggs)... |
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Who Is Oprah Winfrey?
Barbara Kramer
Format: Paperback
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The story of how a young Southern girl who was raised on a pig farm became one of the most influential and inspiring people in the world traces Oprah Winfrey’s life from her difficult childhood through her accomplishments as a talk-show host, actress, producer, media mogul and philanthropist.... |
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A Girl's Bill of Rights
Amy Mucha - Augsburg Books
Format: Hardcover
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"I have the right to be bold, and mighty, and LOUD!" In a world where little girls must learn to stand tall, A Girl's Bill of Rights boldly declares the rights of every woman and girl: power, confidence, freedom, and consent. Author Amy B. Mucha and illustrator Addy Rivera... |
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Ambitious Girl
Meena Harris - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
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When a young girl sees a strong woman on TV labeled as "too assertive" and "too ambitious," it sends her on a journey of discovery through past, present, and future about the challenges faced by women and girls and the ways in which they can reframe, redefine, and reclaim... |
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Who Is Kamala Harris?
Kirsten Anderson
Format: Hardcover
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format for trending topics.On November 07, 2020, Kamala Harris, a senator from California, became the first woman and the first African-American and South Asian-American person to be elected to the vice presidency. While her nomination for this position was not unexpected, her rise to national... |
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ABC for Me: ABC What Can She Be?: Girls can be anything they want to be, from A to Z
Sugar Snap Studio - Walter Foster Jr
Format: Board book
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ABC What Can She Be? presents a colorful world of possibilities - from astronaut to zoologist and everything in between - for all little girls with big dreams. Not even the sky is the limit with this fun approach to learning the alphabet. In this new title from Walter Foster Jr., ABC What... |
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Herstory: 50 Women and Girls Who Shook Up the World
Katherine Halligan - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
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Move aside history - it's time for herstory. Celebrate fifty inspiring and powerful women who changed the world and left their mark in this lavishly illustrated biography compilation that's perfect for fans of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and She Persisted.... |
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A Woman in the House
Ilene Cooper - Abrams Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
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An inspiring history of all the women who have taken a seat in Congress! For the first 128 years of America's history, only men served in the Senate and House of Representatives. All that changed in January 1917 when Jeannette Rankin was sworn in as the first woman elected to Congress.... |
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D V D
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Turning Red (First Female Directed Pixar Movie)
Domee Shi - Disney
Format: Book
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Mei Lee is a confident, dorky thirteen-year-old torn between staying her mother's dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren't enough, whenever she gets too excited, she 'poofs' into a giant red panda!
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She Said (Female Directed)
- Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD
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The New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor publish a report that exposes sexual abuse allegations against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The shocking story also serves as a launching pad for the #MeToo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject... |
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The Woman King (Female Directed)
Viola Davis - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD
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Inspired by true events, this is the remarkable, action-packed story about the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Follow the epic and intense journey of General Nanisca (Oscar®... |
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Where the Crawdads Sing (Female Directed)
Daisy Edgar-Jones - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD
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From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" haunted Barkley Cove,... |
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Till (Female Directed)
Chukwu, Chinonye - Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD
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Till tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) , whose pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till (Jalyn Hall) became a galvanizing moment that helped lead to the creation of the civil rights movement.
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Tar
- Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD
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From producer-writer-director Todd Field comes TÁR, starring Cate Blanchett as the iconic musician Lydia Tár. TÁR examines the changing nature of power, its impact and durability in our modern world. |
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Tina
Tina Turner - BBC
Format: Book
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An intimate look at the legendary queen of rock and roll, this HBO original documentary charts Tina Turner's rise to early fame, her lifelong personal and professional struggles, and her rebirth as a global phenomenon in the 1980s. Presenting... |
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Julia
José Andrés
Format: DVD
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The film brings to life the legendary cookbook author and television superstar who changed the way Americans think about food, television, and even women. Using never-before-seen archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and cutting-edge, mouth-watering food cinematography,... |
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Respect [DVD]
Jennifer Hudson - Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD
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Following the rise of Franklins career from a child singing in her fathers churchs choir to her international superstardom, Respect is the remarkable true story of Aretha Franklins journey to find her voice, in the midst of the turbulent social and political landscape of 1960s America. |
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American Masters: Becoming Hellen Keller
n/a - pbsd
Format: Widescreen, NTSC
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Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind since early childhood, was a passionate advocate for change, using her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities and people living in poverty. Becoming Helen Keller examines the complex legacy of this author, advocate,... |
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The Post
Tom Hanks - 20th Century Fox
Format: DVD
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Oscar(r) -winners Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks team for the first time in this thrilling film based on a true story. Determined to uphold the nation's civil liberties, Washington Post editor Katharine Graham (Streep, in an Oscar-nominated performance) , and hard-nosed... |
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Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins
Janice Engel - Magnolia Pictures
Format: Book
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The story of media firebrand Molly Ivins, six feet of Texas trouble who took on Good Old Boy corruption wherever she found it. Her razor-sharp wit left both sides of the aisle laughing, and craving ink in her columns. She knew the Bill of Rights was in peril and said ‘Polarizing people... |
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Little Women
Saoirse Ronan - Columbia (USA)
Format: DVD
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Writer-director Greta Gerwig has crafted a film that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters,... |
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On the Basis of Sex
Justin Theroux - Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD
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Inspired by the powerful true story of a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones) , On the Basis of Sex depicts a then-struggling attorney and new mother facing adversity in her fight for equal rights. When Ruth takes on a ground-breaking case, she knows the outcome... |
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Confirmation
Various - Hbo Home Video
Format: DVD
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"Starring Kerry Washington, Wendell Pierce and Greg Kinnear, Confirmation takes a look behind the curtain of Washington politics, depicting the explosive 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination hearings where Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment. The hearings brought the country... |
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Online Databases
Use your Norfolk Public Library card number for access to these and more resources found on our Database & Learning Resources page.
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Sargeant Memorial Digital Collection - Photographs and other archived materials from Norfolk Public Library's Sargeant Memorial Collection, the region’s premier local history and genealogy library.
Biography in Context - Outstanding research support with 600,000+ biographical entries.
Gale in Context: Elementary - Access developmentally appropriate content to meet the research needs of students in Kindergarten through Grade 5.
Gale in Context: Middle School - Access magazine articles, newspapers, and reference books for students in junior high and middle school.
Norfolk Journal and Guide 1916-2003 - This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with articles from the Norfolk Journal and Guide, 1916-2003.
Newsbank Special Reports: Women's History- Coverage of contemporary and historic issues, and newsmaking events in the life of women.
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Websites
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Biography.com www.biography.com/womens-history/index.jsp Timelines, videos, history and educational information about the contributions of women in history from the Biography Channel.
History.com www.history.com/content/womenhist Achievements, history, videos, timelines and trivia in regard to women’s history month from The History Channel.
Virginia Women in History https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/virginia-women-in-history/Features Virginia women who have been overlooked by history books. Created by the Library of Virginia.
National Women’s History Project www.nwhp.org A resource for promoting Women’s History and celebrating Women’s History Month. The NWHP selects the annual theme.
National Women’s Museum www.nwhm.org A multimedia resource of photographs, essays, recordings, documents and a virtual museum collection about women’s contributions to history.
Library of Congress http://womenshistorymonth.gov/ The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join together with one website in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.
Smithsonian Education https://americanhistory.si.edu/topics/womens-history A multimedia resource of photographs, essays, recordings, documents and a virtual museum collection about women’s contributions to history for educators and students. This year includes new information about women inventors and women in aviation and space history.
A Mighty Girl blog. https://www.amightygirl.com/blog A Mighty Girl is a curated collection of books, toys, movies, and music for sale at other sites for parents, teachers, and others dedicated to raising smart, confident, and courageous girls and, of course, for girls themselves! It includes extensive book lists, including many titles available at the library.
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