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The feminist movement, though essential for furthering women’s equality, is rife with inequities of its own, be it its past of excluding Black and brown women and members of the LGBTQ+ communities. This can make teaching the concept of feminism and its history to young people a complex task that adults and caretakers might not always be able to carry out.
According to women’s rights activists and members of various women’s organizations, books can be a great tool to talk about feminism, especially when discussing experiences that are different from our own. In honor of Women’s History Month and to celebrate intersectional feminism, we asked experts like Karla J. Strand, writer and women’s studies librarian for the university system in Wisconsin, about the best feminist books for young adults, middle-schoolers and young children.
Everyone can learn something from the upcoming collection of books chosen by Strand and others, which include a children’s chapter book version of Gloria Steinem’s memoir, an artful collection of Native women’s voices and a graphic novel all about the global history of women’s fight for equality.
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“Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson was raised in South Carolina and New York, two extraordinarily different places that both left her feeling out of place as a young African American girl during the era of Jim Crow and a burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. In her memoir, “Brown Girl Dreaming,” Woodson offers a window into a time of extreme change through the lens of someone in the midst of finding strength and understanding. It’s a must-read for any young reader looking to grasp the impacts of racism and the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s and ‘70s and how it affected women of color.
— Recommended by Tapscott