Children's Diversity & Justice Library

Us too

Thank you for
Five great years Knoxville Rainbow Library & Archive! Follow them at Knoxville Q***r History now!

The Rainbow Library has closed as of June 2026. We distributed all of the books and furnishings to the community where we know they will be loved and cherished.

We are continuing the archive part of the Rainbow Library & Archive over at Knoxville Q***r History!
Please follow and connect with us!
***rHistory
KnoxvilleQ***rHistory.org
KnoxvilleQ***[email protected]

With this weekend’s milestone of 250 years as the United States of America, there is much to celebrate and reflect on. Moments like this have many, including ourselves, asking who we are? Who have we been? Who are we becoming? What have we learned? And importantly, not only where are we going, but where do we want to go and how will we get there?

Unfortunately, at a time of so many important questions, there is a great collective narrowing of our ability to ask and answer such questions, especially publicly and in dialogue with each other. Discourse is limited. Dissent is restricted. History is removed from public buildings and national parks. Books are banned from schools and removed from public libraries. Art that teaches is replaced with art that dictates. The list goes on.

In a time of narrowing, honest and critical histories can broaden our knowledge, offer diverse perspectives, and reveal the spaces between the history we know, what we’ve been taught and what has been shared, and the history we don’t know or haven’t examined. In order to be proactive about our present and future, we need to understand the full story of how we got to now, both the stories that inspire us, and the truths that challenge us. With these questions and issues in mind, we offer this booklist of critical, diverse and honest histories to help us understand ourselves and create an informed empowered deliberate future.

There’s More to Our Story: A Critical, Diverse and Honest Histories Booklist for Babies Through Adults as We Celebrate 250 Years as a Nation — The Children's Diversity and Justice Library With this weekend’s milestone of 250 years as the United States of America, there is much to celebrate and reflect on.  Moments like this have many, including ourselves, asking who we are?  Who have we been? Who are we becoming? What have we learned? And importantly, not only where

We will be closed tomorrow, Thursday July 2nd, for a holiday observance. Please come see us during our regular business hours.

Next storytime at Weknonow - West Knox Pride is at 5:30pm! Come here about “Sewing the Rainbow” the story of the first Pride flag and how the “Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish”!

Rain or shine, we are here at Weknonow - West Knox Pride 3 - 8pm! Books don’t love humidity and rain but we have all the info about this free community diversity & justice lending library. Sign up for an account, pick up a sticker, stay for storytime at 3:45 and 5:30, pick up a summer reading bingo game and come to the CDJL inside the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on August 2nd at 1pm for our Summer Reading Party!