Yonkers Libraries Celebrate Women’s History Month

Who is your hero? Women’s History Month is being celebrated by highlighting our staff and and their biggest role models. Meet Haifa Bint-Kadi,pictured above, artist, curator of the Riverfront Art Gallery and arts educator at Yonkers Public Library. She is an exceptional educator with a deep connection to the community. One of her role models is Bell Hooks, who was a writer, an activist and an educator.
According to Haifa, “I discovered her writing in college and through her work I understood the intersectionality of being a woman and a person of color. She gave me words to understand and describe my lived experiences. She’s published over 40 books and writings and in so many of them she seeks to describe and eliminate systematic oppressions and racism. I consult her writings at every turn and they certainly have influenced my identity and my passion for art and activism. My heart broke when she passed last year, but I will never stop acknowledging how her work has shaped my life.” bell hooks also wrote many children’s books, including “Homemade Love,” which she is pictured reading to a child here.
Reserve one of bell hooks’ books today: https://bit.ly/3pKAD80
       Need Something to Read With Your Kids? 
Need something to read your kids? Check out “A History of Me” by Adrea Theodore. As our Children’s Librarian Laura C. writes “this moving intergenerational story follows a young girl as she navigates being the only brown student in her class, and how that affects her experience of learning about slavery and the Civil Rights movement.

She’s made to feel like an outsider when her classmates stare at her during these lessons, but she tries to focus on what she’s learned from her mother and her own family history: to be grateful for her education, and more importantly, to be grateful for being exactly who she is. With beautiful illustrations and an inspiring message about what it means to tap into your own inner strength,

‘A History of Me’ is an absolute must read.” You can check it out here: https://bit.ly/3vsoOas.