Black History Month, which had its origins in Chicago during the summer of 1915, According to the Black History Month  founding organization, Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, “the 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans, and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday since 1983, honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader whose most well-known areas of advocacy include civil rights and racial equality, voting rights, nonviolent resistance, economic justice, fair housing, and opposition to militarism and poverty. We have numerous books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Click “read more” to see the list of titles we have available in our adult collection. If you would like books from the children’s collection, we encourage you to visit our Youth and Family Services department to find titles suitable for your child’s reading ability. 

Native American Heritage Month, which occurs every November, celebrates the traditions, languages and stories of Native American and indigenous communities around the United States. Celebrate by reading books featuring indigenous voices. Don't forget to check out our Native-American Heritage Month display!

LGBT+ History Month is an annual celebration of the lives and achievements of LGBTQIA+ people of the past. LGBT History Month was first celebrated in 1994. LGBT History Month was first proposed by Rodney Wilson, the first out Missouri Public School teacher. Wilson's rationale behind selecting October as LGBT History Month was to honor National Coming Out Day (October 11) which was first celebrated in 1988 as well as the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. LGBTQ History Month was declared a national history month by President Barack Obama in 2009. Click "Read More" to see a list of historical fiction, historical fantasy, biographical fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and memoirs related to LGBTQIA+ history.