The past greatly affects our present, and we must understand the past to appreciate the present and plan the future. Here are four books focusing on the importance of the past to our present recommended by Pima County Public Library. 

From stories about women carving their path in the then-budding television industry to dispersing the conventional knowledge that Black people did not know their rights before the Civil Rights Movement, this list has choices that will satiate your craving for stories from the past.

Get out your spy glasses and dive into these in-depth works about the secrets of our past and present.

Public Faces, Secret Lives by Wendy L. Rouse

This book is the first work to focus on the role of queer figures in the women's suffrage movement, their vast contributions, and their sacrifices. Contrary to popular belief, the movement involved various individuals from a range of genders and sexualities. However, movement leaders needed to present a respectable public image to conform to gendered views of womanhood and make the movement more acceptable to the public.

Award-winning author Wendy L. Rouse contends that by subverting and drastically altering conventional ideas of domesticity, family, and death, queer suffragists made significant efforts to affirm their identities and legacies. In addition, they formed enduring partnerships and created creative defense plans for their closest relationships, which were eventually vital to the suffrage movement's triumph.

The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt

From the author of the bestselling book, "Rise of the Rocket Girls," comes this book about the women of Walt Disney Studios who made great contributions for generations. From titles like "Snow White" and "Pinocchio" to recent hits like "Moana" and "Frozen," these women fought for respect in a male-dominated industry.

In this book, author Nathalia Holt describes how women infiltrated Disney's male-dominated story and animation departments, fighting against sexism, domestic abuse, and workplace intimidation to change how female characters are portrayed to young viewers.

With extensive interviews and exclusive access to the archive and personal documents, Holt reveals their vital contributions to Disney's Golden Age and continued impact on animation, culminating in the phenomenal "Frozen," the first Disney animated movie directed by a woman.

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When Women Invented Television by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, the New York Times-bestselling author of "Seinfeldia," discusses the unknown story of four trailblazing women in the early days of television who laid the foundation of the industry we know today.

During the Golden Age of Radio, few investors were interested in television due to the industry being an upstart, having a small production budget, and the high price of television sets. However, four visionary women - Irna Phillips, Gertrude Berg, Hazel Scott, and Betty White - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, developing our current television industry. They created a daytime series with a cast dominated by women, turned a radio show into a Jewish family comedy, hosted the first African American evening variety show, and made a daytime talk show. 

However, men took the reins when television became more popular and profitable. During WWII, the House Un-American Activities Committee also threatened entertainers, leading to many being blacklisted as communist sympathizers. These women, true to their core, never gave up, leaving us with their legacy in the television industry. This book, illustrated with photos, tells the story of these women at a forgotten time in television and popular culture history.  

Before the Movement by Dylan C. Penningroth

In this book, award-winning scholar Dylan C. Penningroth talks about how the Black community leveraged the law to their advantage before the Civil Rights Movement.

People's misconception is that ordinary Black people were ignorant about the law. It was believed that only in the 1940s did a few African American lawyers bravely try to change the laws, leading to Supreme Court victories that opened the eyes of ordinary Black people to fight for their rights.

The book, including 42 illustrations, tries to change the conventional narrative. According to Penningroth, Black people knew about the laws, discussed them, and even used them as early as the slavery era regarding laws of property, contract, inheritance, marriage, divorce, etc.

Penningroth's work spans from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s, partly tracing the history of his own family. It challenges the accepted understanding of Black history in the modern world.

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