What's New at the UCC Library?

A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month—a time to honor and celebrate the rich cultures, histories, and contributions of AANHPI communities to the fabric of American life. From culinary delights to influential music and movies, such as Flower Drum Song, on Kanopy. AANHPI individuals have shaped our world in countless ways.

Did you know that instruments like the slide guitar and ukulele, rooted in Hawaiian culture, have influenced genres such as blues music? You can find videos on Or that AANHPI innovators contributed to the development of everyday technology like USBs and made vital advances in medicine, including the development of birth control for women?

You can also explore powerful personal stories like George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, a graphic memoir that recounts his childhood experience in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

Explore more about these incredible contributions through Gale OneFile: U.S. History and our library’s curated collection. Stop by to discover, learn, and celebrate!

About the Observance

Each year, on 24 March, the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims is observed.

The purpose of the Day is to:

• Honor the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations and promote the importance of the right to truth and justice;
• Pay tribute to those who have devoted their lives to, and lost their lives in, the struggle to promote and protect human rights for all;
• Recognize, in particular, the important work and values of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, of El Salvador, who was assassinated on 24 March 1980, after denouncing violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable populations and defending the principles of protecting lives, promoting human dignity and opposition to all forms of violence.

For more on this topic from the United Nations, click here.

Want to dig even deeper? Explore articles related to human rights in our library databases. Not sure where to start? Try doing a topic search in our Discovery Service using the main search box on the library home page.

Women's Rights are Human Rights

Continue the celebration of amazing women and learn more about challenges faced, struggles won, and ceilings shattered in award-winning films available through Kanopy. 

March is Women's History Month!

National Women's History Month "is an American observance held during the month of March to recognize and celebrate women's contributions to culture, history, and society. It grew from International Women's Day , a global celebration of women's achievements celebrated each year on March 8, and the Women's History Week celebration, which was first held in Sonoma County, California, in 1978. In 1987, US Congress officially established the month of March as Women's National History Month (Harmon, 2025)". 

Learn more about Women's History Month by exploring the library databases on women such as Shirley Chisholm, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Marie Curie and so many more amazing women.

Watch Films with Kanopy

Check out some of the award-winning films available through Kanopy and learn more about amazing women throughout history.

Malcolm X: Murder In New York

On February 21st in 1965, human rights activist, Malcolm X was assassinated.

We use this day to honor his legacy and as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality.

Learn more about Malcolm X's work from documentaries such as Malcolm X: Murder In New York via one of our streaming media databases, Kanopy.

Fun fact: Kanopy is available to be streamed on all your digital devices, see this document for instructions and guidelines on how to do this. Don't forget to log in using your UCC ID# for access.

 Making Black America: Through the Grapevine

This four-hour series, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people-beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” Gates takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcases Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy and define Blackness in ways that transformed America itself.

Check out the trailer below, an then head on over and watch the series via Films on Demand, one of the UCC Library's streaming databases.  

Watch the series today by clicking here. Don't forget to use your UCC ID# to log in and gain access.

February is Black History Month

In 1986 the United States Congress passed, and President Ronald Reagan signed, Public Law 99-244, which formally established Black History Month as a federally designated observance. The month is honored with historical, cultural, and educational presentations in several countries with substantial Black minority populations. In the United States, Black History Month (sometimes also known as African American History Month) is observed during the month of February (Issit, 2024). 

Explore eBooks such as this one, Freedom facts & firsts: 400 years of the African American civil rights experience, using the UCC Library Discovery Search. Come to the UCC Library to learn more about black individuals throughout history.

References

Issitt, M. (2024, November 26). Black history month: Overview. In Points of view. Great Neck.

Wynn, L. T. (2009). Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, March (1965). In Freedom facts & firsts: 400 years of the African American civil rights experience (pp. 68-70). Visible Ink Press.

January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Holocaust

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) defines the Holocaust as the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. During the Holocaust, German authorities targeted groups because of perceived racial and biological inferiority: Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, and those of Slavic background (Poles and Russians). Other groups persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds included Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and those in the LGBTQ community.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion to reflect on the horrors of the Holocaust and to strengthen our commitment to preventing such atrocities from ever occurring again. 

Explore articles and more using the Library Discovery Service to learn about Holocaust Remembrance.

---

Gratitude beyond Measure

By Sarah Lyon

By Sarah Lyon

When they give you their sympathies,
You may smile and say thanks,

But they don’t know what you’ve seen.
They don’t know what you’ve lost,
they don’t understand the cost.

Family torn apart,
surviving with a broken heart.

Your story is an incredible one,
One we could only begin to imagine.
One that I can’t even fathom.
But your strength through it all
Is what really outshines and stands tall.

So to you I want to say, you’re amazing.
Thank you for sharing what you’ve seen,
even when you were at the tender age of a
teen.

For that time may have taken so much,
but I’m so glad we’re in touch.

References

Lincoln, M. (2020). Never a Bystander & Other Enduring Lessons for Holocaust Remembrance. Knowledge Quest, 49(2), 44–51.