Happy Women’s History Month! 

Did you know that Women’s History Month originated in California? In 1978, the Sonoma County Commission on Women held the first Women’s History Week, aligning with International Women’s Day on March 8th. The celebration was a major success, with the local school district offering special presentations, programs, an essay contest, and a parade. Following the first Women’s History Week in Sonoma, several other communities and school districts across the nation began offering Women’s History Week programs, and in 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8 as “National Women's History Week.” In 1987, Women’s History Week was expanded to Women’s History Month by Congress.

The theme for Women’s History Month 2025 is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations,” which calls attention to the contributions of women educators, leaders, and mentors to American history and society – including many of you!

To celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of our past blogs and resource spotlights on Women’s History, as well as some additional helpful links and reading materials below.

CHSSP Resource Spotlights:

• Women and Gender History: This resource spotlight from 2024 highlights several CHSSP inquiry sets on women’s history, as well as recent scholarship and #KatesBookClub selections from last March. Check out our eleventh-grade lesson on Women’s Suffrage to learn how women organized to win the franchise. 
• Women’s History Month 2023: This Monthly Highlights page from 2023 focuses on the theme of intersectionality in history. Included is a tenth-grade primary source set that discusses the Japanese military’s system of sexual slavery that provided “comfort women” for Japanese troops throughout Asia and the Pacific, and the survivors’ courageous testimony and calls for formal apologies in the 1990s. 
• March 2022 Monthly Highlights: This list of resources, from Women’s History Month 2022, includes additional inquiry sets and book recommendations for teachers, including an extensive selection of Women’s History Month picture book titles from #KatesBookClub. 

CHSSP Blogs:

• What is Women’s History and Why is it Important? by Vanessa Madrigal-Lauchland (2022)
• New Collection of Women’s Biographies by Beth Slutsky (2022)
• Nothing Less Than Justice: New Public History Website on 1977 California Women’s Conference by Faith Bennet (2024)

Other Resources for Educators: 

• The National Women’s History Museum has a sizable collection of classroom-ready resources available for free download, created as part of their “For Educators, By Educators” K-12 collaboration. Use their searchable database to find lesson plans, primary sources, biographies, and more!
• The National Education Association’s Women’s History Month for the Classroom page features ready-made lesson plans on women and gender history (including lessons on Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Church Terrell, and Judy Heumann), as well as helpful links and book recommendations. 

Kate’s Book Club: March Reads 

The Boldest White: A Story of Hijab and Community by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly. Faizah loves being part of the community at her mosque, and she loves being part of the group at her fencing lessons. When all eyes are on her, though, Faizah freezes up. Mama says bravery will come with time, but there's a fencing tournament coming up – does Faizah have what it takes to be bold?  The third title, and another winner, in the series - The Proudest Blue and The Kindest Red.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrap the World:  The Story of Two Groundbreaking Environmental Artists by G. Neri, illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle. Told as a conversation between Christo and Jeanne-Claude, this book tells the story of their lifelong partnership and as artistic collaborators whose once-in-a-lifetime public installations captivated viewers and asked: What is art? Who does it belong to? And how can it help us reimagine the world around us? Don’t miss the back matter about the couple, an author’s note, a bibliography, and a collection of fun facts about the artists and their work. The use of dialogue bubbles to tell the story could be used as a mini writing lesson with upper-grade students.

Girls on the Rise by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loveis Wise. Another original poem by the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history. More of a salute to girl empowerment than an actual women’s history title, this book provides many opportunities for young girls to be celebrated not for how they look, but how “they look into the face of fear.” Perfect for elementary students.

Girls Solve Everything: Stories of Women Entrepreneurs Building a Better World by Catherine Thimmeh, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Not a picture book, but could definitely be used in both elementary and middle school classrooms. Highlights women all over the globe who ask questions that affect lives and create businesses that answer them. For example, can we keep premature babies warm when they are born far from the hospital? Or, can the elderly stay in their homes and eat a balanced diet? How did these women get their ideas? Where does the funding for their projects come from? And how have some of these businesses touched YOUR life? This book answers these questions, but also inspires today's kids to learn from entrepreneurs and take on some of the world's biggest problems, one solution at a time. Simply excellent glossary of business terms included in the back matter. Illustrations by Melissa Sweet for each “solution story” are engaging and creative.

Toypurina: Japchivit Leader, Medicine Woman, Tongva Rebel by Cheyenne M. Stone and Glenda Armand, illustrated by Katie Dorame. Stunning picture book, illustrated by Tongva artist Katie Dorame, that tells the story of Toypurina, a medicine woman who lived near the San Gabriel mission in Southern California in the 1700s. Appalled at the conditions that Indigenous people endured in the mission system, Toypurina organized an uprising against Spanish rule to fight for her people and their way of life. Though unsuccessful, the rebellion was an important event in Native American history. That the rebellion was led by a woman makes it all the more noteworthy. Complete with educational back matter, this beautifully illustrated book honors an important figure in California’s Indigenous history. Indigenous author and illustrator, a uniquely California story that would be a welcome addition to classroom and school libraries.

Recent Scholarship:

• Biography of a Revolution: The Feminist Roots of Human Rights In Egypt by Lucia Sorbrera (2025): Coming this May. Sobrera shows how a long tradition of women’s social and political activism in Egypt helped lead to the 2011 revolution, bringing women’s history to the forefront of Egyptian history. 
• Drastic Dykes and Accidental Activists: Queer Women in the Urban South by LaShonda Mims (2022): A look into the “complex nature of lesbian life in the South” in the mid-to-late twentieth century. Focusing on queer spaces in Atlanta in Charlotte, Mims demonstrates how class, race, and money led to different experiences among members of the cities’ lesbian communities. 
• Historians on Housewives: Fashion, Performance, and Power on Bravo Reality TV, edited by Kacey Calahane, Jessica Millward, and Max Speare (2025): Reality television shows like Bravo’s Housewives series are often portrayed as “trash TV,” lacking any real cultural value. This edited volume flips the script on this portrayal. Instead, historians examine Bravo’s reality series as a “tool for making history accessible.” Comes out this month – I can’t wait to read it!
• Radical Solidarity: Ruth Reynolds, Political Allyship, and the Battle for Puerto Rico’s Independence by Lisa G. Materson (2024): From UC Davis Professor Lisa Materson comes a new history of Ruth Reynolds, a white woman from South Dakota who spent much of her life fighting alongside nationalist revolutionaries for Puerto Rico’s independence. Materson characterizes Reynolds’s activism as “radical solidarity,” a method of uniting in the face of state-sponsored violence and colonialism, despite different backgrounds.