Essential Reading and Watching List for Women’s History Month
by Jasmine Nelson
Reading List
‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett– Named one of Barack Obamas favorite books of the year. The identical Vignes twin sisters grew up in a small Southern Black community and ran away at the age of sixteen. Brit Bennett writes a story that is emotional and brilliant as they explore the tangles of racial identity, family, desires, and expectations.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson– Told through petry, the story of an African American girl’s journey through adolescence through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement.
‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen- This story centers around the Bennet family, a family of five daughters. Austen’s story engages with the tension between marrying for love, rather than wealth or social prestige, and the pressure to assure financial security.
‘Hidden Figures’ by Margot Lee Shetterly– This is the true story of the Black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped the success oof America’s greatest achievements in space.
‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott– The four March sisters of this story are all very different. Their father is away at war and their mother works too support the family.
‘My Own Words’ by Ruth Bader Ginsburg – In this collection Justice Ginsburg discusses gender equality, the workings of the Supreme Court, being Jewish, law and lawyers in opera, and the value of looking beyond the US when interpreting the constitution.
‘The Woman Warrior’ by Maxine Hong Kingston– Maxine Hong Kingston listened to her mother’s tales of a China where girls were worthless, tradition rules and only a strong woman can scratch her way upwards. Growing up in America she maneuvers her way through the journey of womanhood.
‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ by Joan Didion- A couple’s daughter was put on life support after going into a medically induced coma. Then days later the husband suffers a massive fatal coronary. This powerful book is Joan Didion’s attempt to make sense of her husband and child’s illnesses.
