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Throughout the month of March, our team directed volunteers to put aside any books that they thought would be appropriate for Women’s History Month. What we found truly delighted me, and I wanted to share with our community of blog readers and supporters. The books our volunteers curated ranged from picture books to chapter books, from stories of activists to artists to scientists, but each one carried the same message: women have always been here, doing extraordinary things.

Frederick Douglass once said, “Once you learn to read, you will forever be free.” It is a quote that, in so few words, has a lot on its mind, and remains a forever thought-provoking statement. Not just within the backdrop of Black History Month or past and present civil rights movements, but in a far broader context: children, how they are exposed to literature, and what they take away. Starting in 2016, the Baltimore Ravens partnered with the Maryland Book Bank and set out w

Often, when we celebrate Black History Month, we reflect on the past. We acknowledge that any societal progress for the rights of Black people stands on the shoulders of giants who have paved the way. When I first began writing this blog, I researched some of those giants to learn about some Black figures from Maryland who may not be so well-known. There’s Frances Ellen Watkins Harper , born in Baltimore in 1825 and the first African-American woman to publish a short story. W