Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America

"I'm here to register to vote." --Rosanell Eaton Rosanell Eaton (1921-2018), civil rights activist, was born April 14, 1921. The following are some links to learn more: President Obama's New York Times Magazine letter about voting rights heroes including Rosanell Eaton NPR profile of Rosanell Eaton New York Times obituary of Rosanell Eaton Washington Post obituary of Rosanell Eaton Washington Post article about recent legal battles for voting rights This blog post is part of an ongoing series of "this date in history" blog posts that highlight some of the people and events of voting rights history. Links provide an opportunity for students and teachers to explore and learn more.

"If people don't vote, everything stays the same." --Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta , civil rights activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, was born April 10, 1930 . The following are some links to learn more: Dolores Huerta Foundation biography of Dolores Huerta National Women's History Museum biography of Dolores Huerta National Park Service biography of Dolores Huerta NPR interview with Dolores Huerta Washington Post article about Dolores Huerta This blog post is part of an ongoing series of "this date in history" blog posts that highlight some of the people and events of voting rights history. Links provide an opportunity for students and teachers to explore and learn more.

''My vocation has been to wage a crusade against lynching, disenfranchisement, peonage, public segregation, injustice, denial of service in public places for color, in war time and peace.'' --William Monroe Trotter William Monroe Trotter  (1872-1934), civil rights activist, was born  April 7, 1872 . The following are some links to learn more: National Park Service biography of William Monroe Trotter Encyclopedia Brittanica article about William Monroe Trotter University of Michigan timeline of William Monroe Trotter's life events NPR Fresh Air interview about William Monroe Trotter's life and activism White House Historical Association brief article about William Monroe Trotter This blog post is part of an ongoing series of "this date in history" blog posts that highlight some of the people and events of voting rights history. Links provide an opportunity for students and teachers to explore and learn more.

"Our object should be not only to end this terrible war now, but to prevent its recurrence. All must admit that slavery is the cause of it. Without slavery we should this day be a united and happy people. . . . The principles of our Republic are wholly incompatible with slavery." --Thaddeus Stevens Thaddeus Stevens  (1792-1868), abolitionist and politician, was born  April 4, 1792 . The following are some links to learn more: U.S. Congress biography of Thaddeus Stevens National Endowment for the Humanities Magazine article about Thaddeus Stevens Library of Congress timeline of Thaddeus Stevens' life events Encyclopedia Brittanica article about Thaddeus Stevens This blog post is part of an ongoing series of "this date in history" blog posts that highlight some of the people and events of voting rights history. Links provide an opportunity for students and teachers to explore and learn more.

“As residents of the United States, we claim a common manhood with all other nationalities, and believe we should have that manhood recognized according to the principles of common humanity and American freedom.” --Wong Chin Foo Wong Chin Foo  (1847-1898), civil rights activist, was born in 1847 . The following are some links to learn more: Museum of Chinese in America biography of Wong Chin Foo Chinese American Exlusion/Inclusion exhibit entry about Wong Chin Foo Chinese Historical Society of America review of a biography about Wong Chin Foo Grand Rapids Historical Commission brief biography of Wong Chin Foo  and a copy of his naturalization papers Article about s tudents researching and creating a graphic novel about Wong Chin Foo This blog post is part of an ongoing series of "this date in history" blog posts that highlight some of the people and events of voting rights history. Links provide an opportunity for students and teachers to explore and learn more.

Has your school or library done a diversity audit of your author visits ? I was recently reading an ALA discussion thread about diversity audits of collections . (It’s been many years since I’ve worked as a librarian, but I’ve maintained my ALA membership and ran across the topic on a discussion board.) Though not a new thing in the world of libraries, the term "diversity audit" was new to me, so I did a little reading on the topic. (The term is used in other settings as well, but my reading was just about schools and public libraries.) What I learned is that a diversity audit of a collection is a systematic assessment of the diversity of the books (either the entire collection or a sample) to better understand what’s in the collection (content as well as authorship) and to identify gaps in the collection. There are many helpful articles about how these audits can be conducted, including Karen Jensen’s “ Diversity Auditing 101 ” in the Oct. 22, 2018 School Library Journal ,