Smithsonian Libraries

Adopt a Human!

Giving a child a strong foundation—a home, a family to love, and a safe place to grow—is one of life's greatest and most generous gifts ... We celebrate National Adoption Month to recognize adoption as a positive and powerful force in countless American lives, and to encourage the adoption of children from foster care. —Presidential Proclamation—National Adoption Month

115,000 kids are living in foster care, awaiting adoption into a caring family. November is National Adoption Month, intended to raise awareness about the need to find loving families for these children. The Child Welfare Information Gateway is a promoter of this event and offers lots of information on how to adopt, including adoption preparation programs, support groups for those considering adoption, legal matters, and how to be a good parent to your adopted child. Several of their publications are available free online.

And November 20 is National Adoption Day, a day for celebrating adoptive families, and "an opportunity for courts to ... finalize the adoptions of children from foster care." Over the past decade, the adoptions of 30,000 children have been made official on this day. View toolkits for promoting this day.

Of course, any day, any month is a great time to start considering adopting a child, and to be supportive toward adoptive families.

Here are some books on adoption, from the Libraries' collections:

Strangers and kin: the American way of adoption, Barbara Melosh. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002.

Adoption in America: historical perspectives, edited by E. Wayne Carp. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, c2002.

And a children's book:

I bet she called me Sugar Plum, by Joanne V. Gabbin. Harrisonburg, VA: Franklins Street Gallery Productions, 2004.

Details of images from the Libraries' Galaxy of Images.

Top: Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Du Châtelet Du Châtelet, Institutions de physique, 1740. Vignette of woman, child and geometric figures.

Bottom: Frank F. Taylor Co., Inc. Famous Taylor-Tot and Other Taylor Juvenile Products. Front cover of catalog. 

Some More MLK Reading Choices

Martin Luther King, Jr., Gracie Mansion, Rev. Martin Luther King press conference / World Telegram & Sun photo by Dick DeMarsico. 1964 July 30. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963.

The Libraries has a huge variety of materials available on Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., primarily in its Anacostia Community Museum and Smithsonian American Art / National Portrait Gallery Libraries—ranging from a video of his historic speech to his own writings, as well as biographical, historical and even artistic studies.

A wonderful way to immerse yourself in dreams that become history.

—Elizabeth Periale

Martin Luther King, "I have a dream," [videorecording].

Partners to history: Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and the civil rights movement, by Donzaleigh Abernathy ; foreword by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968. "An Ebony picture biography."

Blessed are the peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., eight white religious leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail." S. Jonathan Bass.

The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., senior editor, Clayborne Carson ; volume editors, Ralph E. Luker, Penny A. Russell; advisory editor, Louis R. Harlan.

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Some MLK Reading Choices

Happy Birthday Jackie Robinson!

Jackie Robinson swinging a bat in Dodgers uniform, 1954. Photo by Bob Sandberg. Published in LOOK, v. 19, no. 4, 1955 Feb. 22, p. 78.

Jackie Robinson, born January 31, 1919, and helped to end segregation in major league baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. But Robinison was not only important historically—he was an All-Star baseball player, starting at first base, then taking over second for most of his career, all with The Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played himself in the Hollywood film, The Jackie Robinson Story. The Libraries has many books available to learn more about this fascinating baseball and civil-rights legend.—Elizabeth Periale

Jackie Robinson: a life remembered. Maury Allen. New York : Franklin Watts, 1987.

Jackie Robinson: race, sports, and the American dream. Edited by Joseph Dorinson and Joram Warmund. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, c1998.

Opening day: the story of Jackie Robinson's first season. Jonathan Eig. New York: Simon & Schuster, c2007.

Carrying Jackie's torch: the players who integrated baseball—and America. Steve Jacobson. Chicago : Lawrence Hill Books, c2007.

First class citizenship: the civil rights letters of Jackie Robinson. Edited by Michael G. Long. Robinson, Jackie, 1919-1972. New York: Times Books, c2007.

I never had it made: an autobiography. Jackie Robinson as told to Alfred Duckett; foreword by Cornel West; introduction by Hank Aaron. Hopewell, N.J.: Ecco Press, c1995.

Stealing home: an intimate family portrait by the daughter of Jackie Robinson. Sharon Robinson. New York, NY: HarperCollins, c1996.

Some MLK Reading Choices

Image via Wikipedia

The Libraries has a huge variety of materials available on Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., ranging from his own writings to biographical, historical and even artistic studies. Great reading material for this national holiday.—Elizabeth Periale

Strength to love, Martin Luther King, Jr., Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 1981, c1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: the making of a mind, John J. Ansbro, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, c1982.

What manner of man; a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Bennett, Lerone, with an introd. by Benjamin E. Mays, Chicago, Johnson Pub. Co., 1964.

Parting the waters: America in the King years, 1954-1963, Taylor Branch, New York : Simon and Schuster, c1988.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., encyclopedia, Clayborne Carson ... [et al.] ; with the assistance of the King Research and Education Institute, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.

A Martin Luther King treasury, Photos. by Roland Mitchell, Yonkers, N.Y., Educational Heritage [1964].

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