Black Women Making History

We are celebrating the 2021 theme for Black History Month, The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity, with historic firsts. This week we're highlighting a few Black women making history.

First we have Vice President Kamala Harris, with her book The Truths We Hold, An American Journey.

Another first, The Legend, The Bessie Coleman Story, a documentary about the first Black and first Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license. Bessie Coleman was a celebrity pilot performing in airshows throughout the country until her untimely death testing out a new airplane.

And a local biography: Cathy Williams, From Slave to Female Buffalo Soldier. Williams was a former slave from Independence, MO who went on to disguise herself as a man and fight with the Buffalo soldiers during the Civil war.

Johnson County Library has so many resources, it might be hard to choose which to read, listen to or participate in, so if you’d like more during the month-long celebration of Black History, we've gathered more for you to enjoy »