2023 Women’s History Month

Please join us in honoring women’s history every month and especially in March, as we celebrate with some of our highly anticipated women’s history publications.

Women, Gender, and Families of Color

“Women Community Warriors of St. Croix” by JoAnna Poblete
*Free to Access March 2023* 

This essay highlights some of the unexpected leadership roles that women have played in relation to the oil industry on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) from 1965 to the present. 

Ain’t I an Anthropologist: Zora Neale Hurston Beyond the Literary Icon

Jennifer L. Freeman Marshall

Perceptive and original, Ain’t I an Anthropologist is a long-awaited reassessment of Zora Neale Hurston’s place in American cultural and intellectual life.

The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck: Twenty-Six Short Essays on a Working Star

Catherine Russell

Original and rich, The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck is an essential and entertaining reexamination of an enduring Hollywood star.

The American Journal of Psychology 

“Florene Mary Young and Margaret May Zeigler: The First Women in Professorial Ranks, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia” by Roger K. Thomas 

In 1933, two factors resulted in Florene Mary Young (1903–1994) and Margaret May Zeigler (1882–1976) concurrently becoming the first female tenured faculty members in the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia (UGA). The first was the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, and the second was the legislative creation of the Board of Regents in 1932, established to oversee the University System of Georgia legislatively in 1933.  

Mormon Women at the Crossroads: Global Narratives and the Power of Connectedness

Caroline Kline

Vivid and groundbreaking, Mormon Women at the Crossroads merges interviews with theory to offer a rare discussion of Latter-day Saint women from a global perspective.

Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Railroad

Miriam Thaggert

Riding Jane Crow illuminates the stories of African American women as passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century railroad.

American Music

“A ‘Brilliant Talk’ and a ‘Stirring Appeal’: How Women of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Built an Audience for the Ballets Russes in 1917” by Julia Phillips Randel 

This article details the origins of American folklore studies by examining how “the folk” were The Grand Rapids case study suggests that the Ballets Russes tour could offer a window into the cultural life of any of the fifty-six cities on the itinerary, in a period of growth, prosperity, and cultural flowering, especially for many of the smaller cities. 

The Life of Madie Hall Xuma: Black Women’s Global Activism during Jim Crow and Apartheid

Wanda A. Hendricks

The Life of Madie Hall Xuma shows how a confluence of history, ideas, and organizations both shaped Hall Xuma and centered her in the histories of Black women and women’s activism, and of South Africa and the United States.

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

“Fitting Women to Their Work: The Vocational Vision of Helen M. Bennett” by Lisa R. Lindell 

Helen Marie Bennett’s life experiences and interests sparked and shaped her career counseling work and led her to stage the Woman’s World’s Fair, held annually in Chicago from 1925 to 1928. 

The Global History of Black Girlhood

Edited by Corinne T. Field and LaKisha Michelle Simmons

Thought-provoking and original, The Global History of Black Girlhood opens up new possibilities for understanding Black girls in the past while offering useful tools for present-day Black girls eager to explore the histories of those who came before them.

Mormon Studies Review

“The Women’s Ordination Movement in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Historical and Sociological Perspectives” by Nancy Ross, David J. Howlett, and Zoe Kruse 

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) conversations about women’s ordination in the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century were consistent with broader conversations about the status of women in Christianity and American society.  

Dream Books and Gamblers: Black Women’s Work in Chicago’s Policy Game 

Elizabeth Schroeder Schlabach

Vivid and revealing, Dream Books and Gamblers tells the stories of Black women in the underground economy and how they used their work to balance the demands of living and laboring in Black Chicago.


About Kristina Stonehill