Civil War to Civil Rights and Beyond . . .

This year’s Black History Month theme addresses “the efforts of people of African descent to destroy slavery and inaugurate universal freedom in the United States.” African Americans served as recruiters, soldiers, nurses and spies during the Civil War which Frederick Douglass believed would bring an end to America’s “peculiar institution,” slavery. He was proven correct! In honor of this year’s theme, the LTRC display for the month of February celebrates African Americans and the Civil War. The display cases contain books and photographs addressing slavery and emancipation, African American Civil War issues, and autobiographies and narratives of slaves.

For more information, please see:
http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about.html

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/overview-african-americans-civil-war

http://www.asalh.org/Annual_National_Black_History_Theme.html

National Disabilities Awareness Month

October is National Disabilities Awareness Month. Come visit the LTRC this month and learn more about human disabilities and how our college assists and supports disabled students. Our display contains books, information sheets on famous disabled individuals as well as five Paraquad Disability Awareness Posters. In addition, the display includes items on loan such as assistive computer technology (both hardware and software) and alternate media that are used to assist our disabled students from Cuyamaca College’s Disabled Students Programs Services (DSPS). These items have been provided by the High Tech Center located in the LTRC in room C-102.

For more information about National Disabilities Awareness Month, please visit Office of Disability Employment Policy

Be sure to join us for Cuyamaca's 13th Annual Wheelchair Basketball Game

LTRC Display Creatively Designed by Maria Gearhart

September is for National Hispanic Heritage Month and the U.S. Constitution Week

During the month of September, 2010, the library will have two concurrent displays!

In honor of National Constitution Week, September 17-23, 2010, the first floor library display will contain items and books related to the September 17, 1787 signing of the Constitution of the United States of America.

On September 17, 2010, the ASGCC will sponsor an event from 9:15-9:45 am to celebrate Constitution Day. In front of the LTRC, there will be a “live” Statue of Liberty, cookies and a brief, fun quiz where you can test your knowledge of the Constitution. Voter registration will even be available on the Grand Lawn. Please, stop by, register to vote if you haven’t already done so, grab a cookie, take the quiz, then visit the library to view the Constitution display.

More information about Constitution Week can be found here:Constitution Week USA

Mexican Independence

September 15- October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month and this year, September 16 marks Mexico’s 200th anniversary of its Independence from Spain and the 100 year anniversary of its Revolution. The Mexican Heritage display will include books, information and materials related to Mexican history.

More information about National Hispanic Heritage Month can be found here:Hispanic Heritage Month
Information about Mexican Independence and the Mexican Revolution as well as local celebrations can be found here:
Mengei International Museum
Explorando Mexico
Harry Ransom Center

Displays creatively designed by Maria Gearhart

Come Read with Me

This summer, the Cuyamaca College LTRC would like to extend an invitation to all students, staff and faculty to share the enriching experience of reading with children. Read to your children or grandchildren. Read to a neighbor, friend, niece or nephew. Or how about your own inner-child? Studies show that “the most important thing adults can do in preparing young children for success in school and reading is to read aloud with them” (Family Literacy Foundation and International Reading Association). Stop by and visit us Monday – Thursday, 8 am- 6 pm and check out our display of classics and Caldecott Award winners in addition to plenty of thematic literature perfect for sharing with children of all ages. Happy Reading!

For more information and ideas, here are some websites worth exploring to enhance a child's summer reading adventures:
San Diego County Library 2010 Summer Reading Club
Nature & Me - Preschool Storytime Series and Other FREE Natural History Museum Children's Events
San Diego Public Library 2010 Summer Reading Program
San Diego Family Summer Reading Programs

Equal Education for All

In 1944, when Gonzalo Mendez attempted to enroll his children in Westminster’s Main Street School, he was turned away and sent to Hoover Elementary, the “Mexican” elementary school. Mendez and four other fathers challenged this discrimination in the class-action lawsuit, Mendez v. Westminster School District and won. On June 14, 1947, Governor Earl Warren signed the bill that ended school segregation in California. This historical event also helped pave the way to the landmark court case Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka which resulted in the Supreme Court ruling, again by Earl Warren, then the Chief Justice of the United States, that ended the school segregation of African-Americans.

In conjunction with Cuyamaca College’s Mexican Cultural Heritage Celebration on Thursday, May 6, 2010, the library display will include items relating to the Mendez v. Westminster case. Come visit the LTRC throughout the month of May and see news articles, academic journal articles, documentary films, and court documents that give attention to both Mendez v. Westminster and Brown v. the Board of Education. Additionally, the book entitled Mendez v. Westminster; School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights which chronicles the entire history of this case, the commemorative 2007 stamp as well as other books from our collection that address equality in education will be on display.

For more information, please visit the following links:

Learn California.org

UprisingRadio.org

Mendez v. Westminster, A Look At Our Latino Heritage

Mendez v. Westminster Case Blog (Closer to Home)

Brown vs. Board of Education

Smithsonian's Seperate is Not Equal, Brown v. Board of Education

National Poetry Month

In 1996, in order to honor the amazing art of poetry writing, the Academy of American Poets began the tradition of a month long celebration in April-- National Poetry Month.

This month, our library display will feature works of poetry. In conjunction with Cuyamaca's Spring Garden Festival, our first floor display will contain books of poetry for adults and children that focus on springtime and nature. Our second floor display will feature classic and famous poets. Stop by and visit; you might "meet" a new favorite poet.

For more information about National Poetry Month, please visit: Poets.org

For more information about Cuyamaca's Spring Garden Festival, please visit: Conservation in Bloom

For your own poetry fun, please visit:

• Writing Different Types of Poetry


• The Poetry Foundation


• Famous Poets and Poems

March is National Women's History Month

The following proclamation is from

the National Women’s History Project Site

• Whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic contributions to the growth and strength of our Nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways;
• Whereas American women have played and continue to play a critical economic, cultural, and social role in every sphere of the life of the Nation by constituting a significant portion of the labor force working inside and outside of the home;
• Whereas American women have played a unique role throughout the history of the Nation by providing the majority of the volunteer labor force of the Nation;
• Whereas American women were particularly important in the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in our Nation;
• Whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement;
• Whereas American women have been leaders, not only in securing their own rights of suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and other movements, especially the peace movement, which create a more fair and just society for all; and
• Whereas despite these contributions, the role of American women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued, in the literature, teaching and study of American history:

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that March is designated as "Women's History Month. The President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation each March, calling upon the people of the United States to observe March as Women’s History Month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

Join our celebration here in Cuyamaca’s LTRC by stopping by and checking out our display of books and information on women who made “historic contributions to the growth and strength of our Nation.” Students, while you're here, enter a raffle for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate to Bath & Body Works. On a slip of paper provided at the library circulation counter, print:


1. your full name
2. your email address and/or phone number
3. the name of a historic woman
4. her contribution to making the world a better place

Place your entry into the purple box on the table by our entryway. The drawing will be on Wednesday, March 31 and the winner will be contacted by phone or email.

The winner of the National Women's Hostory Month Drawing is Nidhal Matti! She won the $25 gift certificate to Bath and Body Works!