The end of slavery brought great hope to blacks. Emancipation brought about laws known as Black Codes, which approved certain legal rights for blacks. Such rights include owning property, marring, and suing in court. There were also hindrances to these laws. These would be Pig Laws which unfairly and harshly punished blacks. A government agency, the Freedmen’s Bureau, offered aid to former slaves assisted with schooling, and ran hospitals and healthcare. Reconstruction permitted congress to pass and enforce laws promoting civil and political rights to blacks. As things appeared to improve for blacks, the military was withdrawn from the south. There was no more slavery but there was lynching, disenfranchisement, and segregation. Jim Crow laws (the practice of segregating Blacks) were enforced more than ever before.
Segregation is the isolation of a race, class or ethnic group by force. There were two types of segregation that Blacks had to endure: De Jure segregation and De Facto segregation. Both of these were practiced nationwide.
- De Facto segregation was practiced by custom and social conditions. Examples include the destruction of black property, being threatened by the KKK, and inner city schools not having enough or appropriate resources. There was not a law against any of these.
- De Jure segregation was segregation by law. Examples include Whites only bathrooms, Blacks sitting in the Rear, and segregated schools.
In 1896, the Supreme Court held that the case Plessy vs Ferguson as being constitutional. This ruling stated that blacks were ”separate but equal” and that segregation was still constitutional. Blacks could have the same things as whites, just separate. This included libraries, schools, parks, swimming pools, neighborhoods, and more. Many activists like W.E.B. Dubois worked endlessly to integrate public libraries. Their work didn’t bring about integration but it did bring funding for black libraries.
When thinking about segregation, most people only think about the south. The north was also segregated. Many early Libraries had opened segregated reading rooms for Blacks within White libraries. Others provided minimal service through bookmobiles or one day a week service to the local library.
Black libraries were usually housed in a room of a building or in the high schools. They were placed in the high schools because they received more funding. Despite their separation form the main library, white libraries managed the black libraries. Books from the main library could be transferred to the black library for check out. The white library also ordered all of its materials.
Black libraries were usually housed in a room of a building or in the high schools. They were placed in the high schools because they received more funding. Despite their separation form the main library, white libraries managed the black libraries. Books from the main library could be transferred to the black library for check out. The white library also ordered all of its materials.
Andrew Carnegie provided funding for segregated library branches. His corporation required that any library that sought funding must have a library for Blacks. John Hope Franklin, a professor, criticized the Carnegie’s agreement with southern library segregation by allowing whites to control the situation. He reminded libraries of their call to provide equal access to opportunities.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is when change began to happen. Public entities were challenged through non-violent protest. The Tougaloo Nine, nine members of the NAACP Youth Council, refused to leave the Jackson, Mississippi library and were arrested, in 1961. Twenty-two years earlier, in 1939, Samuel Wilbert Tucker entered the Alexandria Library, Alexandria Virginia. He and 4 others, one by one attempted to apply for a library card but were refused. They then sat at a table to read and were arrested for using the white only library.
Attitudes regarding the integration of public libraries were a bit less forceful than toward other institutions. Integration happened sooner for public libraries. The patrons of libraries were usually of a higher economic class. Blacks and whites of the lower economic class did not utilize libraries; therefore, it was easier to except the Black presence in libraries. Whites also felt that their utilizing the library was similar to shopping, it was always done. While some neighborhoods welcomed integration, it took the Supreme Court to push integration nation-wide. Three steps were important for the desegregation of public libraries: Brown v Board of Education, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and The Voting Rights Act of 1965. Even though integration laws were passed, some libraries were still defiant. Some libraries continued using separate restrooms, checkout desks, and/or entrances.
White librarians such as Lura G. Currier struggled with how to serve the black community and keep her job. The laws were changing, however, Mississippi and the Mississippi Library Association stood firm on keeping things separate. ALA was requiring libraries to integrate. Currier’s passion was providing books to all, but she upheld the laws until they changed. She tried her best to increase services for black. She was one of those librarians that felt trapped in the middle.
White librarians such as Lura G. Currier struggled with how to serve the black community and keep her job. The laws were changing, however, Mississippi and the Mississippi Library Association stood firm on keeping things separate. ALA was requiring libraries to integrate. Currier’s passion was providing books to all, but she upheld the laws until they changed. She tried her best to increase services for black. She was one of those librarians that felt trapped in the middle.
Segregation and desegregation took wisdom, strength, patience, persistence, and self control. Today libraries are integrated. Libraries are managed, designed, and full of people of all races, ethnicities, and beliefs. We have come so far. We have had many first black librarians throughout the country. Carla Hayden is the current librarian at the Library of Congress. She is the first woman and the first black librarian to ever be sworn in.