Celebrate Women's History Month with CCPL

Women's History Month is here! Join us at your local CCPL branch all month long to help us celebrate women's contributions to science, art, and society. We have many programs for all ages. From trivia to an art exhibit, be sure to drop by to learn and become inspired. Can't make it to a branch? Don't worry, just head over to Charleston Time Machine, a CCPL podcast to listen and learn about trail-blazing women that helped shaped our Lowcountry! 

“As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.”

— Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Programs

Trivia Night at Main Library: Women's History

Thursday, March 9 at Main Libary

5pm - Doors open at 4:45PM

Whether it’s about local hometown heroes or infamous criminals, you will be sure to learn something new about women and their many accomplishments. Prizes will be given and snacks will be provided, so come test your skills at our trivia night to celebrate Women’s History Month. Call to register at 843-805-6930. 

Book Talk with Dr. Walter Curry

Saturday, March 18 at Main Library 

10am

Come join Dr. Walter Curry and discover the story of Martha Kitchings Seawright Ellison's life, featuring the local history of the Antebellum Period and Civil War in Barnwell County during Martha’s enslavement; a personal account of Martha’s life on the Phillips Plantation during the Reconstruction Era in Barnwell County; the circumstances that involved Martha’s marriages to two husbands; and post Reconstruction era through the Gilded Age (1875-1900) during Martha’s life in Aiken County, South Carolina.

Make a Cyanotype Print: A STEAM Program

Saturday, March 25 at Hurd/St. Andrews Library

11am

Learn about botanist Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and her pioneering use of the cyanotype photography process, then make a cyanotype print of your own! Space is limited; email [email protected] to reserve a spot. 

Broken Glass by Sarah Ferreira

Stop by the Saul Alexander Gallery at Main Library all month long to view our March exhibit!  Sarah is a medium experimenter and her pieces reflect the outcome of each experiment. Her work is created using an array of mixed media paints and surfaces including acrylic, gouache, watercolor, oil paints, and textiles on paper, canvas, and wood. Her exhibition "Broken Glass" focuses on the idea of women "breaking the glass ceiling" to celebrate women during Women's History Month. She is deeply fascinated by the elements that influence culture.

Charleston Time Machine

Episode 251 - Margaret Daniel: Enterprising Free Woman of Color

Margaret Daniel was neither rich nor famous, but the sparse details of her career provide a window into life in Charleston around the turn of the nineteenth century. Between the 1780s and her death in 1817, she accumulated real estate, catered fancy dinners, hosted exclusive business meetings, and briefly ran a school for Black children. On February 24th, Charleston Time Machine will profile the life and times of Margaret Daniel, one of the most interesting free women of color in Charleston’s past

Episode 127 - Grief, Crime, and Mercy in Colonial Charleston: The Story of Elizabeth McQueen, Part 1

When an unmarried young woman of Native American ancestry lost a newborn child in 1747, her white neighbors on the frontier of South Carolina interpreted her private grief as a mask for clandestine guilt and summoned the force of English law. Today we’ll begin to reconstruct the fragmented story of Elizabeth McQueen’s painful journey from “innocence and sobriety” to arrest, humiliation, and incarceration in colonial Charleston.

Episode 059 - 10 Progressive Women of Early 20th Century Charleston

I would like to profile some of the most progressive women of early twentieth-century Charleston. A century ago, this community was just beginning to emerge from a social, economic, and cultural rut created by backward-looking politics. To move Charleston forward, we needed to embrace new, progressive ideas and policies, especially those recognizing the equal rights of women and of the African-American population. Time doesn’t permit me to discuss all the local women who provided leadership during this crucial period and served as role models for the rising generations, so I’ve whittled down my list to ten progressive women whose work and legacy I’d like to highlight (in alphabetical order).

Book Recommendations