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Arlington Reads Stirs It Up in 2026

Vintage label graphic with text "Arlington Reads Stirs It Up."
Circle sticker celebrating "20 Years of Arlington Reads author talks."

In 2026, Arlington Reads turns 20 and Arlington Public Library will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States by looking at American life, history and culture through the lens of food.

Arlington Reads Stirs It Up

In 2026, the library’s premier author talk program Arlington Reads will stir it up with eight award-winning cookbook authors and food celebrities, celebrating the intersection of food and culture.

Additional library programs will feature live cooking demonstrations, local “Chef Talks,” a community cookbook with favorite family recipes and a “Great Arlington Bakeoff.”

The author series will examine the various aspects of food—how it crafts community, dishes up our collective history and cultivates cultural connections.

The delectable menu of authors will consist of:

  1. Anthropologist Dr. Ashanté M. Reese (February 1)
  2. Ecologist and greenhouse gas accountant Mark Easter (February 25)
  3. Indian-American food journalist Priya Krishna (March 25)
  4. Culinary lifestyle TV host of The Splendid Table Francis Lam (April 21)
  5. Food and wine expert and star of Netflix’s Queer Eye Antoni Porowski (June 24)
  6. Cake and baking celebrity of the American South Anne Byrn (July 15)
  7. Culinary food historian Jessica B. Harris (November 4)
  8. Bermudian-American social media personality and baker B. Dylan Hollis (December 5).

Arlington Reads is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library (FOAL). Other County and community partners include Arlington Video Group, independent bookstore One More Page Books and Arlington Food Assistance Center.

2026 Author Book List

2026 Author Book List

2026 Author Menu

Dr. Ashanté M. Reese (February 1)

Dr. Ashanté M. Reese sitting on a wooden bench outdoors, wearing a yellow patterned top with greenery in the background.Dr. Ashanté M. Reese is a writer, anthropologist, and associate professor of African and African Diaspora at The University of Texas at Austin.

Reese will discuss the intersection of critical food studies and Black geographies, examining the ways Black people produce and navigate food-related spaces while navigating inequity.

Her first book "Black Food Geographies: Race, Self- Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C." won the 2020 Best Monograph Prize from the Association for the Study of Food and Society and the 2020 Margaret Mead Award jointly awarded by the Association of American Anthropologists and the Society for Applied Anthropology.

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Mark Easter (February 25)

Mark Easter wearing a wide-brimmed hat and hiking gear with a mountainous landscape in the background. Mark Easter is the author of the award-winning popular science book "The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos," published by Patagonia Books. In it, he explores the question “Can we eat our way out of the climate crisis?” In 2025, The Blue Plate was awarded an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal and was a James Beard Award Nominee and finalist for The Colorado Book Award.

Mark is an ecologist and greenhouse gas accountant who has researched the carbon emissions from food, forestry and fiber in academia and private industry for more than two decades. He spent much of his career working with farmers, ranchers, foresters and scientists around the world, researching how historical and modern agriculture contributed to the warming climate, and identifying both new and old farming and ranching methods that not only reduce the dangerous climate emissions behind our daily plates of food, but reverse those emissions wherever possible by drawing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere back into the Earth’s ecosystems.

Mark is a longtime resident of Fort Collins, CO, and spent most of his work career at Colorado State University, from which he retired in 2023 but continues working as an affiliate scientist. He loves to read, work in his garden, cook, hike, backcountry ski and spend time with his wife and their Australian Shepherd.

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Priya Krishna (March 25)

Author Priya Krishna smiles while leaning on a kitchen counter, with a stove and microwave visible in the background.Priya Krishna is a food reporter, video host and former restaurant critic at the New York Times, as well as the New York Times best-selling author of multiple cookbooks, including “Indian-ish” and “Priya's Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids.”

During her early career, Krishna worked at the food magazine Lucky Peach and was a contributing writer and video host at Bon Appétit. Krishna has been nominated for awards by the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021.

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Francis Lam (April 21)

Francis Lam smiles wearing a plaid shirt against a gray background.Francis Lam is the host of The Splendid Table, produced by American Public Media.

Lam is the former Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine and is Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Clarkson Potter, a division within Penguin Random House that is a leader in cookbook publishing. For two seasons, Lam was a regular judge on Bravo’s hit show, Top Chef Masters. An award-winning writer, Lam has written for numerous publications, including Gourmet, Bon Appetít and Food & Wine.

Lam will be joined in conversation by former Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema.

Register

Antoni Porowski (June 24)

Antoni Porowski smiles, wearing a pink shirt in front of a dark gray background.Antoni Porowski is a New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning producer/TV personality and a globally-renowned culinary expert with a lifelong passion for food.

Porowski most recently starred in and was the executive producer of National Geographic’s docuseries "No Taste Like Home," published by Gordon Ramsay's Studio Ramsay Global. The show explores the diverse cultural heritages of global celebrities by way of their ancestors’ culinary traditions, techniques and experiences. "No Taste Like Home" received a Critics’ Choice Real TV award for Best Structured Series in 2025, and was also nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award as well as two Realscreen Awards.

He is also known as the food and wine expert on Netflix’s award-winning series "Queer Eye," which recently wrapped production on its tenth and final season. The series has won twelve Emmy Awards, including six consecutive wins for “Outstanding Structured Reality Program,” breaking the category record for most wins. As a producer on the series, the 75th Emmy Awards marked the first time that Porowski was recognized with an Emmy trophy in his name, along with his co-hosts.

Amongst other television projects and endeavors, Porowski is the author of two cookbooks—“Antoni in the Kitchen” and “Antoni: Let's Do Dinner.”

He is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights everywhere, especially in his family’s native Poland. Porowski serves on the Food Council of City Harvest and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme. These organizations respectively aim to end hunger in New York City, where he resides, and across the world.

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Anne Byrn (July 15)

Anne Byrn smiles with her arms crossed, standing in a bright kitchen while wearing a bright blue button-down.Anne Byrn is an American cookbook author and the former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Tennessean.

Byrn is a New York Times bestselling food writer and author of “American Cake.”

Her latest book, “Baking in the American South,” was a finalist for the 2025 Tennessee Book Award and was named one of 12 Essential Cookbooks for 2025 by the American Library Association.

Byrn’s previous titles include “The Cake Mix Doctor,” deemed one of Southern Living’s top 100 cookbooks of all time.

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Jessica B. Harris (November 4)

Jessica B. Harris smiles while leaning on a stack of books, wearing a multipatterned shawl and glasses.Jessica B. Harris is an American culinary historian, college professor, cookbook author and journalist. Harris is professor emerita at Queens College, City University of New York, where she taught for 50 years and is also the author of 15 books, including “Braided Heritage.”

She has won two James Beard Foundation Awards, including for Lifetime Achievement in 2020, and her book “High on the Hog” was adapted in 2021 as a four-part Netflix series.

Register

Dylan Hollis (December 5)

Benjamin Dylan Hollis smiles outside in front of a metal structure, wearing a collared jacket and glasses.Benjamin Dylan Hollis is a Bermudian-American social media personality, baker and author of “Baking Yesteryear” and “Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip.”

Dylan Hollis is a baking entertainer, bestselling author and viral social media personality known for breathing new life into forgotten recipes.

Born and raised in Bermuda, Hollis pursued jazz piano at the University of Wyoming before stumbling into baking and internet fame during the pandemic.

What began as a quirky video exploring an old cookbook quickly turned into a phenomenon, with millions tuning in to watch him whip up everything from potato chip cookies to tomato soup cake.

Register

Free SAT Prep Webinars from Brainfuse HelpNow

Preparing for the SAT can feel overwhelming. There’s a lot of material, a lot of advice and not much time. Brainfuse HelpNow, an Arlington Public Library eResource, is offering a free SAT Prep Webinar Series that breaks the test into clear, manageable steps and focuses on strategies that actually work.

These live, online workshops run 6-7 p.m., Eastern Time, and are led by Brian Stewart, author of Barron’s SAT/ACT prep books. Each session highlights real shortcuts, smart time-saving techniques and common traps that can cost students points. Students may attend a single session or follow the full series.

You can attend one session or the entire series.

Session Schedule

  1. January 7 – SAT Introduction
    How colleges use the SAT, general test strategies and how the SAT compares to the ACT.
  2. January 14 – Reading: Information and Ideas
    Central idea, detail, evidence and inference questions.
  3. January 21 – Reading: Craft and Structure
    Vocabulary-building resources and strategies for purpose and paired-text questions.
  4. January 28 – Writing: Expression of Ideas
    Transition words and techniques for rhetorical synthesis questions.
  5. February 4 – Writing: Boundaries
    Clear explanations of commas, semicolons, colons, dashes and apostrophes.
  6. February 11 – Writing: Form, Structure, and Sense
    Misplaced modifiers, subject-verb agreement and verb tense.
  7. February 18 – Math: Using Desmos™ on the SAT
    How to use Desmos to improve speed and accuracy.
  8. February 25 – Math: Algebra
    Linear equations, systems, functions and inequalities.
  9. March 4 – Math: Advanced Topics
    Equivalent expressions, quadratic systems and nonlinear functions.
  10. March 9 – Math: Problem Solving and Data Analysis
    Percentages, unit conversion, measures of center, probability and statistics.
  11. March 11 – Math: Geometry and Trigonometry
    Area, volume, triangles, circles and basic trigonometry.

Please note: the Monday, March 9 session requires separate registration. To attend any sessions, be sure to register using the links below.

For the Wed. Weekly Series

Register

For the Mon. in March

Register

More Than Just Webinars: What Brainfuse HelpNow Offers

The SAT webinar series is only one part of what Brainfuse HelpNow provides through the Library.

Beyond these workshops, Brainfuse HelpNow includes:

  • Homework Help: Interact with live tutors in math, science, reading/writing, social studies, PSAT/SAT, ACT, AP and state standardized tests.
  • Skills-Building: Choose your topic to receive real-time help.
  • 24-Hour Writing Lab: Submit essays and other forms of writing for constructive feedback.
  • Homework Send Question: Submit homework questions for expert guidance.
  • Adult Learning Center: Access a library of rich adult learning content (GED) and live, professional assistance in resume/cover letter writing, U.S. citizenship prep, MS Office Essential Skills Series and more!
  • Foreign Language Lab /Spanish-Speaking Support

Brainfuse HelpNow is available online with a valid library card.

Great Books You Might Have Missed in 2025

Looking for a great book? We're here to help!

Arlington readers know that every month sees more amazing books released than they can possibly keep up with! In 2025, nearly 2,500 books received a starred review.

Arlington fell in love with some of those books critics raved about, but with so many to choose from, some inevitably flew beneath our radar.

The books are sorted into subcategories: fiction, nonfiction, graphic, detective, science fiction and fantasy teen, elementary/middle grade and picture books/early readers. And much like browsing the library’s shelves, you're sure to find something unexpected and delightful!

To see which books Arlington readers checked out the most this year, check out our companion list: Arlington's Top Reads in 2025.

Browse Full Lists in the Library Catalog

Complete List
Fiction List
Nonfiction List
Detective List
Sci Fi and Fantasy List
Graphic Novel List
Picture Books / Early Readers List
Elementary / Middle Grade List
Teen List

Arlington’s Top Reads in 2025

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What did Arlington readers check out this year?

2025 was another excellent year for Arlington readers with over 3.6 million checkouts.

Arlington's reading choices span a wide array of genres, including cookbooks, romance novels, biographies and picture books. We listened to eAudiobooks, read on our phones and stacked paper books on our nightstands. Still, certain titles stood out as particularly popular.

Here is a breakdown of the most popular adult, kids and young adult titles.

Composite of 10 book covers.

Two titles had more than 4,000 checkouts this year:

  1. "Onyx Storm" by Rebecca Yarros
  2. "The Women" by Kristin Hannah

The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros was a big hit with all three titles in the top ten.

Emily Henry had two titles this year with "Funny Story" and "Great Big Beautiful Life."

"The Women," "Funny Story" and "Iron Flame" are on the list for the second year in a row while "Fourth Wing," "Remarkably Bright Creatures" and "Demon Copperhead" are in their third year of being one of Arlington’s most popular reads!

"Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas is one of the most popular teen reads for the third year in a row, but the rest of the top five are all books from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, with "Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" keeping its position at number one.

Just like last year, our younger readers couldn’t get enough of "Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney!

We’re excited to see what books Arlington will fall in love with in 2026.

Of course, there are always great books that don’t get the buzz and popularity and sometimes are overlooked.

Curious about the other excellent releases you might have missed this year? We have a curated list of Great Books You Missed in 2025 to help you find some hidden gems in our catalog.

Always free. Always open. Always reading!

Your favorite eCollection resources

The library’s digital collections had a standout year in 2025, with patrons turning to eCollections more than ever. From books and newspapers to online courses and career tools, these platforms have become part of everyday life for readers and learners across the Arlington community.
Libby remains the favorite for eBooks, audiobooks and magazines, while PressReader connects patrons to newspapers and magazines from around the world. One in four titles read on PressReader were international titles and in languages other than English, underscoring its role as a vibrant hub for global perspectives. Across all of our magazine platforms, patrons most enjoyed reading The New Yorker, The Economist, The Atlantic, People and Consumer Reports.

Learning platforms saw strong engagement as well. O’Reilly and LinkedIn Learning offered courses in artificial intelligence, technology, business and creative skills. Patrons especially enjoyed diving into top courses "WordPress: Ecommerce, Project Management Foundations" and "Pre-investing: Before Investing in Real Estate," and "Writing: The Craft of Story"—all designed to sharpen professional skills or introduce new hobbies and opportunities to online learners.

Mango Languages kept language learners busy with sessions in everything from Spanish to Japanese to American Sign Language, often right from their phones.

Specialized eCollections played an important role.

Value Line gave investors reliable financial research, Consumer Reports guided smart shopping decisions and Bookflix made reading fun for families by pairing children’s books with engaging videos. News lovers stayed informed with full access to the Washington Post Digital and Global Newsstream.

We welcomed several new eCollections this year. You can stream films and series through Access Video On Demand: Master Collection and Biblio+, explore American and global cuisines with AtoZ Food America, AtoZ World Food, and Eat Your Books and dive into research using AtoZ Databases and Social Explorer.

Career seekers will find guidance and opportunities in Vault Career Intelligence. With more than 70 eCollections available, there’s something for everyone.

Arlington's Top 10 eResources In 2025

New November Releases

We're grateful for authors and stories.

This November, we express our gratitude for the imagination and dedication of authors who give us stories to enjoy.

Marisa Kashino’s "Best Offer Wins" skewers the local real estate market in a twisted and darkly humorous novel of domestic suspense. After being outbid 11 times in 18 months for various houses in the D.C. area suburbs, Margo’s getting desperate. When she hears of a wonderful house that will soon hit the market, she’ll stop at nothing to get it.

Nils knows today is his last day on earth, but still goes to work as a ferry operator. As the passengers embark, he sees they are all ghosts from his past. Sailing his route through the Norwegian fjords for the final time, he waits for the ghost of his recently deceased wife in the wistful and quiet story "The Ferryman and His Wife" by Frode Grytten and translated by Alison McCullough.

While trying to negotiate a lighter sentence by returning stolen art from previous heists, an officer tells thief Myles Conner that only a Rembrandt would save him. So, while out on parole, Conner steals a Rembrandt in an audacious daytime theft from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Anthony M. Amore’s "The Rembrandt Heist" gets into all the action and intrigue of a story that’s stranger than fiction.

In 1834, David Ruggles opened the first Black bookstore in the U.S., selling abolitionist literature and creating a place for Black people to gather and learn. It’s a template many Black bookstores to come would follow, despite harassment from the FBI and IRS, racism, gentrification and a shifting publishing marketplace. "Black-Owned" by Char Adams traces the history of the Black bookstore and the role those bookstores have played in their communities.

Middle grade readers will want to check out "How to Free a Jinn" by Raidah Shah Idil. When Insyirah and her mother move from Australia to Malaysia to take care of her ailing grandmother, Insyirah learns the women in her family can see jinn. As she gets used to life in a new place, she must also confront an evil spirit haunting her new school in this energetic adventure that blends family, mythology and faith.

Annie Fairfax has been cursed by the finfolk—vengeful creatures that live beneath the waves and were responsible for the shipwreck that killed her parents. Annie is a young female head of the whaling company that her village depends on for survival. Responsibility weighs heavily on her shoulders while the curse is getting worse. There might be a cure, but the cost may be too high in "Break Wide the Sea" by Sara Holland. Teen readers will be drawn in by this roiling and atmospheric tale blending horror, folklore and love.

Place Your Holds Now!

More Book Lists to Explore

Indigenous Peoples Month Guest List
Veterans Guest List

Director’s Message: We’re Not Going Anywhere

Library Director Diane Kresh talking to a FOAL book sale customer.
Library Director Diane Kresh talking to a FOAL book sale customer.

Friday, Oct. 24, was the first full day of our twice-yearly Friends of the Arlington Public Library (FOAL) used book sale, and Arlington’s longest running "recycling" program. I just ended my morning shift having rung up scores of shoppers who exited the library garage, weighted down by bags of books. I met young adults, older adults, retirees, babies, teachers, librarians and some furloughed federal employees who found themselves, sadly, with time on their hands.

FOAL book sale shoppers browsing the used books collection.
FOAL book sale shoppers browsing the used books collection.

All of them united by a love of books and reading.

The book sale is one of my favorite library events. A chance for me and the staff to engage with residents and patrons we might not usually see and whose generosity we depend on. Every penny that is earned by the book sales goes back to the library to pay for author talks, game nights, summer and winter reading challenges, equipment for The Shop and more.

Everything you can think of to keep our community educated, entertained and engaged.

Volunteer signaling to a book sale customer to check out.
Volunteer signaling to a book sale customer to check out.
Shoppers can find unbeatable deals on books, games, puzzles and more.
Shoppers can find unbeatable deals on books, games, puzzles and more.

As I worked the sale I talked with job seekers, home schoolers, young families and students. Many in our community are struggling. Costs of goods and unemployment are rising. Businesses are closing including Pirouette, across the street from Central Library and a warm and welcoming place to gather after a library event. There is no end in sight for the government shutdown and there is a lot of uncertainty and fears of what might come next.

One thing you can be sure of: Arlington Public Library is not going anywhere. Our doors are still open for reference help, quiet study, meeting friends or making new ones at our jigsaw puzzle tables.

If you haven’t stepped through our doors in a while, please do. If you’re a regular, thank you. We are all in this together.

Always Free. Always Open. Always Dependable.

Signatue of Library Director Diane Kresh.

Diane Kresh
Director, Arlington Public Library

MUSICAL CODA

New October Releases

The Spooky Season Is Here 👻

The nights are getting longer and whether you’re celebrating spooky season or the start of cozy season, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a blanket and a good book. 

Set in 2075 New York, the queer cyberpunk dystopian thriller "Local Heavens" by K. M. Fajardo retells "The Great Gatsby," showing the timelessness of its themes of wealth, class, loss and the damage careless people can cause while going after their desires.

You’d think that bargaining with a shadowy figure for a promotion would be standard at a workplace like Dark Enterprises, but while Colin does get promoted, he also unleashes an ancient evil. Mark Waddell’s "Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World" sees Colin trying to save the world because there are a few things he likes about it—his best friend, the new guy he’s been seeing, and of course, his new job. Welcome to Night Vale meets The Office in this darkly humorous horror satire that doesn’t skimp on the romance or action.

The college years often include bad grades, worse boyfriends, questionable fashion choices, late-night parties and learning who you really are. All of this is further complicated if you’ve already won the Nobel Peace Prize and are a global figure for surviving the death threats that haven’t gone away. "Finding My Way" by Malala Yousafzai is a candid and dynamic memoir as she confronts a public image that’s impossible to live up to and learns who she actually is, on her own terms.

November 10 marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes shipwreck immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot. "Gales of November" by John U. Bacon is an absorbing and in-depth look at the wreck, as well as the importance and dangers of sailing on the Great Lakes. Most importantly, he introduces readers to the 29 men lost when she went down, their lives on board and on shore and the loved ones they left behind.

Allan Wolf and Jose Pimienta’s middle grade novel, "Vanishing of Lake Peigneur" tells the dramatic story of when a routine drilling operation on Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur went very, very wrong, creating a giant whirlpool and draining the entire lake away into the salt mines underneath. Narrated by the lake itself and detailing the lives of the people caught in the chaos, this is a gripping introduction to a little-known environmental disaster.

Beauty content creator Lyric plans to spend the holiday season continuing to build her platform and get the most out of her latest brand collaboration. When a spur-of-the-moment photo with new classmate, Juniper, goes viral, the girls decide to make the most of the moment and start fake dating for the clicks (and the accompanying money, which will fund their respective post-high school plans). But the line between reality and social media blurs quickly in "I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," Mariama J. Lockington’s slow-burn teen Christmas romance.

Place Your Holds Now!

More Book Lists to Explore

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Remarks by Rev. Dr. DeLishia A. Davis

NAACP Arlington Branch president and pastor Dr. DeLishia A. Davis gave a powerful speech during the opening reception of the Virginia voting rights exhibition "From Barriers to Ballots."

The exhibitions were on display from Aug. 1 through Nov. 4, 2025, at the Bozman Government Center, Arlington Central Library, Arlington Historical Museum, Black Heritage Museum of Arlington and the City of Fairfax Regional Library.

This video was recorded on August 6, 2025, at Central Library for the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. You can read the transcript of the speech below or stream it online.

The initial moments of the speech referenced Davis's grandfather, the late Rev. Robert D. Boykin of Wilmington, North Carolina. He passed away on January 23, 2025 at the age of 97. 

The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson shaking hands with Martin Luther King, Jr., at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Photograph by Yoichi Okamoto. Courtesy of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library.

The 60th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Good evening, friends, neighbors and beloved community,

Today, we gather to mark the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965—one of the most significant victories of the Civil Rights Movement and a profound declaration of American democracy.

This legislation was not gifted to us. It was earned through sweat, sacrifice and sheer moral courage. It was won on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where people of every age and background stood against hatred and brutality to affirm the dignity of the vote.

Painting of “Bloody Sunday—Selma, 1965” by artist Ted Ellis. This painting was unveiled during the 50th Anniversary celebration of the March from Selma to Montgomery. From Wikimedia Commons.

The Vote is Precious. It is Almost Sacred.

As the late Congressman John Lewis, a hero of that bridge, once said: “The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.”

The Voting Rights Act gave legal power to that sacred tool. But 60 years later, we find ourselves in a sobering moment—a time when voting rights are once again under attack, when voter suppression wears new clothes, and when equity remains a dream deferred for too many.

Let us be clear: To truly honor the Voting Rights Act is not just to remember it—it is to defend its purpose. Because the same forces of racism and injustice that required its passage still seek to silence and divide us today.

Pinback button reading “Black Folk Must Vote,” ca. 1965. Courtesy of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Arc Bends Toward Justice.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us,“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

However, friends, it does not bend on its own. We must bend it. With action. With truth. With an unrelenting commitment to justice. We must fight for accessible, fair and inclusive elections. We must demand policies that affirm human dignity and racial equity. And we must do this work—together.

Photo of John Lewis, 1965. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-121285

Make Good Trouble.

John Lewis also urged us to make “good trouble, necessary trouble.” So, we must. Because the dream of an anti-racist, just society is not a relic of the past—it is a calling for our present and a hope for our future.

Let us link arms like those who came before us. Let us vote, speak out, organize and refuse to be silent. Let us protect not just the laws of democracy, but the soul of it.

May we keep walking, keep marching, keep making good trouble and keep the promise of justice alive for generations to come.

Thank you.

(Song)

We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday.

Deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome someday.

We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand someday

Deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome someday.

About Reverend Dr. DeLishia A. Davis

Reverend DeLishia A. Davis is the current president of the Arlington branch of the NAACP. She has been a Methodist pastor for nearly three decades and has served congregations in Ohio, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia.  

In addition to her pastoral duties, Rev. Davis serves as the Chaplain of the National Council of Negro Women in Northern Virginia, providing spiritual guidance and support to empower women of color.  

As a board member for People for the American Way, Rev. Davis works to protect and expand the rights of all citizens. Beyond her advocacy work, Rev. Davis is also a dedicated English literature teacher. 

Arlington, VA Suffragist Mary Morris Lockwood

The Charlie Clark Center for Local History (CCCLH) sat down with Nancy Tate to talk about the origins of the women's suffrage movement and the historical marker for Arlington suffragist Mary Morris Lockwood (1871–1936).

Tate is a longtime member of the League of Women Voters of Arlington and Alexandria City and has served as the executive director of the League of Women Voters of the United States.

The marker is located next to the Arlington Science Focus Elementary School, at 1501 North Lincoln Street, across from Hayes Park, in Arlington, Virginia 22201.

This interview was recorded on May 30, 2025, at the Charlie Clark Center for Local History and is part of the VA voting rights exhibition "From Barriers to Ballots." You can read the transcript of the interview below or stream it online.

The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Image of Mary Morris Lockwood, weekly newspaper "The Suffragist," June 6, 1914, Library of VA.

Mary Morris Lockwood, Silent Sentinel

Mary Morris Lockwood lived in Arlington, VA, and was actively involved in the civic life of her community. She was also engaged in civic reforms. For instance, she helped found the library system of Arlington, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and the Federation of Women's Clubs. She is particularly known as a very active suffragist.

Suffragists were women and men who worked very hard over a 72-year period to ensure equal voting rights for women.

And she did that living right here in Arlington. Both by setting up chapters of some of the suffrage groups in the state, raising money, lobbying her federal legislators from this district and marching in parades.

Parades were a common tactic to draw attention to the suffrage movement. Lockwood marched, for instance, in the very well-known 1913 march down Pennsylvania Avenue when thousands of women from around the country came to DC to show support for women’s right to vote.

She's particularly significant because she was one of the so-called Silent Sentinels, the women who stood in front of the White House every day for a year in 1917, holding banners saying: "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"

This photograph shows picketers marching from the National Women’s Party headquarters to their posts in front of the White House in 1917. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

A Letter from Mother

They were trying of course to influence President Woodrow Wilson to support a constitutional amendment to provide voting rights to women. It took him a while, but he ultimately urged Congress to pass it. And in 1919 Congress finally did that, sending it on to the state legislatures to ratify.

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920, guaranteeing that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of sex. **

But it was a hard-fought fight right to the end, because the amendment only passed by one vote in the legislature of the last state, Tennessee.  And that only happened when one young male legislator flipped his vote after receiving a letter from his mother urging him to do that.

You can't get better drama than this story of women finally getting into the Constitution!

The Suffragist, June 14, 1919. The Suffragist was created in 1913 by Alice Paul and the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (later the National Woman’s Party) to spread women’s political news and garner public support for a suffrage amendment. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

It Took Many People

As a side note to that, these roadside markers are meant to honor and commemorate the many, many people who worked for over 72 years for women’s suffrage. Mary Lockwood was only one of the many who had become invisible over the years. As part of the 2020 centennial of the 19th Amendment, a wide range of efforts were undertaken to highlight the work of these suffragists.

And it's significant to know that there were active suffragists in Virginia, because the Virginia General Assembly was completely against women voting. They fought it to the very end.

Women like Mary Lockwood, who were going around the state and trying to educate people and get support, may be even more heroic than other suffragists around the country because they were facing so much hostility.

Sign, ca. 1920, designed to be placed in the window of a home so that all who passed would know that the woman within had exercised her right under the 19th Amendment and registered to vote. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Organizing for Women’s Suffrage

The organized efforts to get the vote started in 1848. It took until the late 1800s, when some of the state legislatures, particularly in the Western states, began to allow women to vote. How they did that varied. Some of them allowed women to vote on every race up to president. Some said only the school board race, some said everything except the school board race. I guess in the West it was easier to see the equal contributions that women were making.

Regardless of the differences between states, it took multiple suffrage campaigns in every state to achieve voting rights for women.  It took petitions. It took marches. Sometimes it was legal action. Sometimes women such as Susan B. Anthony went to vote, knowing it was illegal, just to highlight the injustice of being arrested or fined for exercising their voice as citizens.

Women's suffrage postcard, 1915. A popular anti-suffrage argument claimed that entering the supposedly masculine world of politics would take away from women’s femininity. This postcard directly refutes that argument by giving examples of other tasks women commonly performed that were not considered feminine but were not thought to take away from their "womanliness." Courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

By the 1900s, More Momentum Was Building for the Women’s Vote

The women's rights movement started as part of the abolitionist movement. Over the years different groups evolved, and the movement splintered somewhat. There's a lot of complexity to this story, which we don't have time to go into here.

By the time you get into the 1910s, momentum was building. By 1918, women were already voting for president in a number of states. Senators and congressmen who had been elected from those states started making Congress more receptive to the suffrage arguments.

And during World War I, when so many women were doing so such much to support the war, it became harder, even for President Wilson, to ignore their exclusion from the body politic. In fact, he used this rationale in urging Congress to pass the amendment.

Photo of the historical marker for suffragist Mary Morris Lockwood, located at 1501 North Lincoln Street, across Hayes Park in Arlington, VA.
Photo of the historical marker for suffragist Mary Morris Lockwood, located at 1501 North Lincoln Street, across from Hayes Park in Arlington, VA.

Virginia Did Not Change its Own Constitution Until 1952

Just to get back to Virginia—and most of the Southern states—which, I must say were against women's voting rights because, of course, they were against Black voting rights. And why would they want Black women to vote when they were already trying to suppress the Black men? That was a block of states that was pretty hard to move.

The 19th Amendment passed in 1920. Women in some of the states had been voting since at least 1910. If every state had been left to handle the issue on its own, those of us who live in Virginia would have waited a whole lot longer to vote. Virginia did not change its own constitution until 1952.

It's quite a wonderful story and there are so many people who worked so hard to make women’s voting rights a reality. As I’ve said, many of their stories have not been told. Increasingly, there is an effort such as these roadside markers to tell those stories.

I’m happy to share such stories—like that of Mary Lockwood—with you.

**  It needs to be noted that the 19th Amendment did not enfranchise U.S. women who continued to be excluded from voting for reasons other than their sex. That included those who were not considered citizens (such as members of tribal organizations), those who were prevented by state Jim Crow laws, and those who lived in the District of Columbia.

About Nancy Tate

Nancy Tate is a longtime member of the Arlington League of Women Voters, now the League of Women Voters of Arlington and Alexandria City (LWV-AAC). She has served as president of the LWV-AAC and currently serves as chair of the history committee.

From 2000-2015, Tate served as the executive director of the National League of Women Voters, known as the League of Women Voters of the United States.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights. It operates at all levels—federal, state and local—to ensure everyone is represented in our democracy.

New August Releases

Great Reads for the Final Weeks of Summer

We’re very studiously ignoring the pumpkin spice that has started appearing on the shelves and are trying to enjoy these last few weeks of summer.

Summer Reading goes until September 1 and if you need help finishing, try one of these great new releases.

Four robots open a noodle shop and need community support when robophobes try to shut them down in the heart-warming "Automatic Noodle" by Annalee Newitz.

R. F. Kuang is a favorite of literary genre fans and she’s back with "Katabasis." This dark academia enemies-to-lovers story features two grad students using Orpheus and Dante as travel guides as they venture into hell to retrieve their advisor so they can get the recommendations they need.

August 6 and 9 mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Garret M. Graff’s oral history, "The Devil Reached Toward the Sky" covers everything from the giddy science of splitting the atom to the haunting and tragic effects on the survivors.

In the 1970s, the Bronx was burning. While the fires were largely blamed on tenants, Bench Ansfield’s "Born in Flames" shows that the fires were actually set by landlords themselves in a massive case of insurance fraud.

There are two horror books set in Blitz-era London for young readers coming out this month!

Middle grade readers will be terrified by Ryan James Black’s "The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham" when a scavenging orphan sets loose a shadow monster. He’s always been a lone wolf, but now he has to band together with other street orphans to destroy the creature.

In "Death in the Dark" by Bryce Moore, teen readers will follow the sleuthing of the prime minister’s daughter, Mary, as she tries to catch a gruesome serial killer while dodging the falling bombs.

Place Your Holds Now!

More Book Lists to Explore

Atomic Bomb
The Voting Rights Act of 1965






















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