The Mount's Phillips Library was awarded a $1000 stipend from the American Library Association and selected to participate in “Let’s Talk About It: Women’s Suffrage.”
This grant was open to libraries nationwide, and only 25 libraries were selected to receive it. The goal of LTI: Women’s Suffrage “is a reading and discussion project that will spark conversations across the United States about the women’s suffrage movement.” With the grant, Phillips Library will be able to cover the cost to produce this program, as well as 10 copies of five books about women’s suffrage.
The Student Success Librarian, Emily Holland, applied to this grant; she said, “I found out from a news bulletin that went out to all libraries in [Maryland].” In order to apply for this grant participants were required to create a project design, which included a minimum of five program designs incorporating the Let’s Talk About It framework and recruiting a local scholar to help facilitate these programs. The local scholar , Dr. Michelle Patterson, is an associate professor in the Department of History whose areas of study include 20th century U.S. women's history and Native Americans.
Holland’s choice to apply for this grant not only stemmed from academia, but she, “saw a great opportunity for the library to host programming that would provide a casual yet academic experience both for the Mount and inclusive of the local community.”
While this grant does provide 10 copies of five specific books to the community, it also has allowed programs to be conducted that showcase women’s long and hard efforts towards their right to vote. Receiving this award has left Holland, “thrilled to be an agent of humanities programming brought to the Mount.” She believes, “Exploring topics such as this is an integral part of liberal arts education.”
Women’s suffrage was not granted all at once as some believe it had been. Women’s suffrage was a slow process; black, brown, Asian, Native American and Latinas were not enfranchised to vote at the same time white women were. Some Native American women were able to vote in 1922, but others did not gain citizenship until 1962. First-generation Asian-American women were not able to vote until 1952. Latina women were able to vote in 1929, but this was only limited to literate women, only until 1975 were women that utilized other languages than English able to vote. Black women finally gained their right to vote in 1965.
As these Let’s Talk About It: Women’s Suffrage programs are conducted, Holland would like to note to the students of the Mount that they are able to receive their own copy of the books discussed. Mount students have first priority to receive these books; "The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote" by Elaine Weiss, "Women Making History: The 19th Amendment Book," essays compiled by the National Park Service, "Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All" by Martha S. Jones, "Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells" by Michelle Duster and "The Once and Future Witches" by Alix E. Harrow. Students are encouraged to register at this link.