American poet Ada Limón
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Pioneers venture into unknown territories and uncharted waters. A genuine poetry pioneer, Ada Limón has found new ways to interact with readers and big emotions. Limón was named poet laureate of the United States in 2022. The poet laureate is appointed by the librarian of Congress and works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Limón, who is of Mexican American heritage, was the first Hispanic American woman chosen for the position. She succeeded the American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who was the poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.

Limon’s style is melodic and accessible. The images in her poetry often embrace the natural world, in which she frequently finds a sense of wonder. The librarian of Congress Carla Hayden praised Limon’s poems for exploring “the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”

Limon’s first poetry collections were Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (both 2006). Her third collection, Sharks in the Rivers (2010), considers the possibility of embracing change and finding beauty in a risky, ever-changing world. Bright Dead Things (2015) deals with carrying on and preserving one’s identity in the face of loss and alienation. Her poetry collections also include The Carrying (2018) and The Hurting Kind (2022).

Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California. She completed a B.A. degree in drama at the University of Washington in 1998. She earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University in 2001. She worked in marketing for magazine firms in New York City, before she began writing full time in 2010.

In 2014, Limón began teaching in the M.F.A. program of Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. She often gives readings of her poetry. In 2021 and 2022, she was the host of the poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” which offers a few moments of reflection through the reading of a poem each weekday. The podcast was launched in 2019 by the poet Tracy K. Smith during her term as poet laureate of the United States.

Musician Lizzo plays James Madison’s crystal flute
Credit: © Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

The Library of Congress let American rap artist, singer, and musician Lizzo play James Madison’s crystal flute at a concert in Washington, D.C., making history this September. The flute was given to America’s fourth president James Madison in 1813 on his second inauguration. The flute has not been played for a long time, if at all! Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden reached out to Lizzo inviting her to see the flute collection at the Library of Congress while in town for her concert. Lizzo accepted the invitation and was especially interested in trying out the precious crystal flute. Lizzo is known for playing the flute, a talent she mixes into her freestyle rapping with ease.

Melissa Jefferson was born on April 27, 1988, in Detroit, Michigan. Her family later moved to Houston, Texas. Her family was deeply religious and frequently listened to gospel music. Lizzo played flute in her high school marching band. She began rapping when she was 14. After high school, Lizzo studied classical flute at the University of Houston. She moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2010, following the death of her father.

Lizzo performed with a few music groups before releasing her first hip-hop album, Lizzobangers (2013). She worked with the American pop musician Prince on his album Plectrumelectrum (2014). Her self-released second album, Big GRRRL Small World (2015), incorporated gospel, hip-hop, and R&B influences. Lizzo signed a recording contract in 2016 and released the EP Coconut Oil that year. An EP, short for extended play, is a recording considered shorter than a full album. Coconut Oil included her hit singles “Good as Hell” and “Worship.”

Lizzo, American rap artist, singer, and musician
Credit: © Aaron J. Thornton, FilmMagic/Getty Images

Lizzo gained international fame for such hits as “Good as Hell” (2016), “Truth Hurts” (2017), and “Juice” (2019). Lizzo achieved widespread popularity with her album Cuz I Love You (2019). The album reached number four on the “Billboard 200″ chart, a list of the top 200 albums compiled by Billboard magazine. The album’s hit song “Juice” reached number five on the Billboard “Hot R&B Songs” list. The success of Cuz I Love You helped to bring new attention to Lizzo’s previous work. The catchy and fun “Truth Hurts” quickly regained attention and peaked at number one on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart, as did “Good as Hell.” Lizzo has collaborated with many artists, including the rapper Missy Elliot. Their song “Tempo” (2019) reached number 21 on the Billboard “U.S. Digital Song Sales” chart. She won Grammy Awards in 2020 for best pop solo performance for “Truth Hurts”; best traditional rhythm and blues (R&B) performance for her song “Jerome” (2019); and best urban contemporary album for Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) (2019).

Lizzo briefly co-hosted the television music program “Wonderland” in 2016. In 2019, she provided her voice for the animated musical film Ugly Dolls. She also acted in the movie Hustlers (2019). Lizzo has also become known for promoting body positivity and self-acceptance.

November 1, 2017

One hundred and twenty years ago today, on Nov. 1, 1897, the new Library of Congress opened its doors to the public for the first time. Previously, the library had been in the Congressional Reading Room of the United States Capitol. Two other buildings have since been added to the library complex, which stands near the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., provides research and reference assistance to the members of the United States Congress. This picture shows the Main Reading Room of the library. The Library of Congress also serves as the national library of the United States. Credit: © Sean Pavone, Shutterstock

The Library of Congress is one of the largest and most valuable research libraries in the world. It has about 160 million items in its collections, including about 40 million books, pamphlets, and other printed materials in 470 languages. There are about 125 million items in the special collections, including charts, engravings, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, photographs, and recordings. In addition, the Library of Congress has digitized millions of items which can be seen on a website hosted by the library, American Memory. The vast collection of online materials includes millions of books, documents, sound recordings, still and moving images, and maps. The Library of Congress is a partner in UNESCO’s World Digital Library project, to which many of the world’s national libraries are contributing digitized material from their collections.

Congress established the library in 1800. In 1815, it purchased the private library of Thomas Jefferson, which had about 6,000 books. The Library of Congress continued to grow, although several fires—the most serious in 1851—damaged the collections. In 1897, the library moved to a new gray sandstone building east of the Capitol because it was too large to be kept in the Capitol. In 1938, an annex of white Georgia marble was built on an adjoining site. In 1980, the James Madison Memorial Building, the largest library building in the world, was constructed. At that time, the 1897 structure was renamed the Thomas Jefferson Building, and the 1938 annex was renamed the John Adams Building. Together, the three library buildings have about 71 acres (29 hectares) of floor space.

September 16, 2016

On Wednesday, September 14, Carla D. Hayden was sworn in as the new Librarian of Congress. Hayden is the first woman, the first African American, and only the third professional librarian to lead the Library of Congress, one of the world’s largest libraries. The United States Senate confirmed Carla D. Hayden in July. She is the 14^th Librarian of Congress since the institution was established in 1800.

Carla Hayden became the new Librarian of Congress on Sept. 14, 2016.
Credit: © American Library Association

Hayden served many years as the chief executive officer of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the public library system in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also served as the chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library system and as president of the American Library Association.

In February 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Hayden to fill the vacancy left by the previous librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. Billington, a former history professor, retired in 2015 after 28 years in the post. In announcing Hayden’s nomination, Obama said that she “has devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today’s digital culture.” The librarian of Congress position, which previously held a lifetime appointment, now carries a 10-year term. Obama signed the term limitation bill into law in 2015.

Carla Diane Hayden was born on Aug. 10, 1952, in Tallahassee, Florida, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago and both master’s and doctorate degrees in library science from the University of Chicago. Hayden began working as a children’s librarian and a library associate with the Chicago Public Library in 1973. She later served as the library services coordinator for Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and as an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Hayden is a champion of such causes as freedom of information and civil liberties. In the early 2000’s, she fought against then Attorney General John Ashcroft over a provision of the Patriot Act of 2001. Among other provisions, the Patriot Act forces public libraries to give the Federal Bureau of Investigation greater access to patrons’ e-mail and library records. In 2015, Hayden kept the Baltimore libraries open during protests that closed many other parts of the city. The protests erupted over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died while in police custody (see Police use of force).

In 1995, Hayden was the first African American to receive the Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal magazine. Ms. magazine named her as one of its 10 “Women of the Year” for 2003, and the Maryland Daily Record included her in its list of “Maryland’s Top 100 Women” that same year. In 2010, Hayden won Senate confirmation to the National Museum and Library Services Board.

January 8, 2016

This week, the librarian of Congress named American cartoonist and author Gene Luen Yang as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Yang is the first graphic novelist to be so honored. The ambassadorship is awarded every two years to an American children’s author or illustrator. The position is intended to raise “national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.”

American cartoonist and author Gene Luen Yang was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature on Jan. 7, 2016. He is the first graphic novelist to be so honored. Credit: © Gene Luen Yang

Yang was born on Aug. 9, 1973, in California, the son of Chinese immigrants, and grew up in the San Jose area. He began drawing and writing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, Yang received a grant for his comic Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, which was eventually published by a comic book company. Yang completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of California—Berkeley in 1995 and worked as a computer engineer for two years. He then began teaching computer science at a high school in Oakland. Yang earned a master’s degree in education from California State University at East Bay in 2003. His first graphic novel, American Born Chinese (2006), was enormously successful. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association for best young adult book. It was also the first graphic novel to be named a finalist for the National Book Award. The book includes three stories about struggles with one’s identity, a theme common to many of Yang’s works. Boxers & Saints (2013), a two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion, was also a National Book Award finalist. In the fall of 2015, with illustrator Mike Holmes, Yang began writing the “Secret Coders” graphic novel series for middle-graders. The series follows a group of students who use their computer programming skills to solve mysteries. Yang was a high school computer science teacher until 2015, when he became a full-time writer.

The position of national ambassador was established in 2008 under the direction of the librarian of Congress. The award is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress; the Children’s Book Council, a publisher’s organization; and Every Child a Reader, an independent foundation. The first national ambassador was Jon Scieszka, who served in 2008 and 2009. He was followed by Katherine Paterson (2010-2011), Walter Dean Myers (2012-2013), and Kate DiCamillo (2014-2015).

Other World Book articles: 

• Literature for children
• Literature for children (2007) – A Back in Time article
• Literature for children (2013) – A Back in Time article