Untold Stories Civil Rights Libraries & Black Librarianship: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0878451048 ISBN 13: 9780878451043

Publisher: Univ of Illinois Graduate School of, 1804

Synopsis

This collection of papers grew out of editor John Mark Tucker's discussions with Donald G. Davis Jr., professor of library and information science at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. In the early 1990s, the Special Collections Department of the University Libraries at UT obtained the papers of James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Davis had learned that these papers contained documents about libraries established by civil rights workers engaged in the Mississippi Freedom Summer project of 1964, and he recognized the research potential of these materials. At approximately the same time Tucker became vice/chair and chair/elect of the Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) with responsibilities for the Round Table's program session and research forum for the ALA conference at Miami Beach in June 1994.

This conference offered the opportunity to mark the 30th anniversary of Freedom Summer, and presentations from the "Libraries, Books and the Civil Rights Movement" session are included in Untold Stories, as are papers received by the Round Table's research forum and other avenues of collection. The 15 articles are arranged by theme: Legacies of Black Librarianship, Chronicles from the Civil Rights Movement, Resources for Library Personnel, Services and Collections. While these authors are not the first to write about civil rights, libraries and black librarianship, they seek to add their own special testimony to the power of books, libraries, printed words, and the human spirit.

About this title

Reviews

This fine collection of 15 essays provides original insights into the use of books and libraries by African Americans since the 19th century. Written by librarians, scholars, and activists, seven chapters first appeared as part of the Library History Round Table's (LHRT) program at the 1994 American Library Association annual conference. Particularly good are the two sections by Edward G. Holly and Charles Churchwell describing the integration of the University of Houston's library staff in 1967. Also, Donald G. Davis and Cheryl Knott Malone's study of libraries' role in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and Marilyn H. Pettit's section on New York City Sunday school libraries in the 19th century are excellent. Complementing the Handbook of Black Librarianship (1977) and In Our Own Voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship (Scarecrow, 1996), this is highly recommended to all librarians interested in both library and African American history.?Stephen L. Hupp, Swedenborg Memorial Lib., Urbana Univ., OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Contributors to Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship shed light on old stories and turn our attention to new ones. Here, we can read about people who taught others how to read, people who founded libraries and people who supported them, people who organized libraries and people who used them, people who wrote and edited books for librarians to add to collections, and people who demonstrated courage and skill amidst the actions of others less commendable. Readers familiar with some contributors will recognize representation from black and white alike, testimony to the powerful appeal of the subjects involved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Graduate School of
• Publication date: 1804
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0878451048
• ISBN 13: 9780878451043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 210
• Editor: Tucker John Mark