George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

The George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library was established in 1927 inside the Chestnut Street YWCA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mary Hairston was the library's first manager. Later, Nell Brooks Wright Alford served as branch librarian from 1941 until 1964. On November 14, 1954, the library received its own building and was renamed the East Winston Branch Library. L. Quincy Mumford, then the Librarian of Congress, was the keynote speaker at the new building's dedication ceremony. The East Winston Branch was also a recipient of the John Cotton Dana Publicity Award from the Wilson Library Bulletin. The library's named was changed again in 2004 to the Malloy/Jordan East Winston Heritage Center Library.     

Update 12/11/2012:
Nells Brooks Wright Alford served on the editorial board of the Library Service Review, the bulletin of the North Carolina Negro Library Association.

Mary Hairston served as the chair of the committee responsible for compiling a handbook for the North Carolina Negro Library Association (the handbook was published in 1940).

See: Lee, Mollie Huston. "Development of Negro Libraries in North Carolina." North Carolina Libraries 3.2 (1944): 1-3, 7. Print. ; Marshall, Albert P. "North Carolina Negro Library Association." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 63-68. Print. ; Library Service Review 1.1 (1948); Library Service Review 1.2 (1948).

See related posts:
North Carolina Negro Library Association and Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian.


Sources: Speller, Benjamin F. and James R. Jarrell. "Profiles of Pioneers: Selected North Carolina Black Librarians." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 76. Print. ; "History." Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women: YWCA Winston-Salem. YWCA Winston-Salem, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. ; Grant, George, comp. "Malloy/Jordan East Winston Heritage Center Library - Forsyth County Library." In Honor of ... : Libraries Named for African Americans. Jonesboro: Grant House Publishers, 2011. 156. Print. ; Balance, Paul S., Mary C. Wiley, Jessie M. Stroup, and Mae K. Tillman. First Fifty Years of Public Library Service in Winston-Salem, 1906-1956. [Winston-Salem]: Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina, 1956. 14, 16-17, 19-20, 27-28, 30, 32-33, 37-41. Print. ; Carnegie Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Annual Report, July 1, 1949-June 30, 1950. Winston-Salem: Carnegie Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, 1950. 5-8, 10-11, 13-15. Print. ; Dedication and Open House: East Winston Branch, Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, N.C.: Sunday, November 14, 1954. Program. [Winston-Salem: Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina, 1954]. Print. ;  Franklin, Hardy R. "The Black Public Librarian in the Southeast." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 214, 218-219. Print.

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Effie Lee Morris: First African American President of the Public Library Association

Effie Lee Morris was Children’s Services Coordinator at the San Francisco Public Library where she worked from 1963 until 1977. Ms. Morris was also the chair of the Coretta Scott King Task Force and was the first African American to serve as president of the Public Library Association (1971-1972).In addition, Ms. Morrison was a librarian at the Cleveland Public Library (1946-1955) and the New York Public Library (1955-1963). She passed away at the age of 88 on November 10, 2009.

Sources: "Speakable Volumes." Jet 20.5 (1961): 27. Print. ; Smith, Henrietta M. "The Coretta Scott King Award - Its History." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 312, 314. Print. ; "Effie Lee Morris: Retired Children's Services Coordinator, San Francisco Public Library." African American Librarians in the Far West: Pioneers and Trailblazers. Ed. Binnie Tate Wilkin. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2006. 148-161. Print. ; Orange, Satia Marshall. "Pay It Forward for Effie Lee Morris." The Black Caucus of the American Library Association Newsletter 39.1 (2010): 5-6. Print. ; Staino, Rocco. "Effie Lee Morris, Advocate of Library Services to Children, Dies at 88." Schoollibraryjournal.com. School Library Journal, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Dec. 2010. ; "PLA Past Presidents." Public Library Association. Public Library Association, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2011. ; Segall, Grant. "Effie Lee Morris Jones Pioneered Library Services for Blind and Minority Children." Cleveland.com. Cleveland Live, Inc., 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 17 Dec. 2011. ; Zalusky, Steve. "Effie Lee Morris Honored for Her Work As A Librarian, Advocate for Underserved Children, and the Visual Impaired." ALA News. American Library Association, 15 June 2010. Web. 17 Dec. 2011. ; Pelosi, Nancy. "Statement on Effie Lee Morris." Congressional Record 156.87 (2010): E1063. Print.

  

Robert Hayden: The First African American Poet Laureate of the United States

Robert Hayden was the first African American to be appointed by the Library of Congress to serve as the Consultant in Poetry (this position is now called Poet Laureate). He held this position from 1976-1978. Mr. Hayden was a professor of English at the University of Michigan. Mr. Hayden passed away in 1980.

Sources: "Library of Congress Gets 1st Black Poetry Consultant." Jet 49.24 (1976): 31. Print. ; Armenti, Peter, comp. "United States Poet Laureate: A Guide to Online Resources." Web Guides. Library of Congress, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. ; "Robert E. Hayden, 66, Noted Poet-Teacher Dies." Jet 58.1 (1980): 18. Print. ; "Poet Robert Hayden Named Bingham Professor." Jet 34.20 (1968): 27. Print. ; "Ebony's Black Achievers: Recipients and Honorees." Jet 55.15 (1978): 52. Print. ; McCalope, Michelle. "Blacks Furious Over Exclusion from 'Great Books of  the Western World." Jet 79.6 (1990): 18. Print. ; "Anthology Features Negro Poetry Since Johnson." Jet 24.20 (1963): 50. Print. ; "National Headliners." Jet 57.9 (1977): 13. Print. ; Scarupa, Harriet Jackson. "Robert Hayden, Poet Laureate." Ebony 33.3 (1978): 78-80, 82-83. Print. ; "Ebony Book Shelf." Ebony 31.2 (1975): 32. Print. ; "Ebony Book Shelf." Ebony 35.12 (1979): 25. Print. ; "1980 Highlights in Pictures." Ebony 36.3 (1981): 107. Print. ; Hatcher, John. From the Auroral Darkness: The Life and Poetry of Robert Hayden. Oxford: G. Ronald, 1984. Print.

Myrtle Hall Branch of the Carnegie Public Library (Clarksdale, Mississippi)

The Myrtle Hall Branch of the Carnegie Public Library (Clarksdale, Mississippi) was opened on May 4, 1930. The branch provided library services to the African American residents of Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the time of its construction, the Myrtle Hall Branch was the only library in the state built with local tax money (total construction cost was $3,200 -- $2,100 came from the City of Clarksdale ; $1,100 from noted African American leaders in the community; the land was donated by the school board). In 1979, the branch became the home of the Delta Blues Museum. When the building was closed in the 1980s, the museum was moved to the second floor of the main branch.

Note: The main branch, the Carnegie Public Library, was built in 1914 with a grant of $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie. The library is still in operation and is still located at the address where it was built, 114 Delta Avenue, Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Update 12/04/2012:
In 1999, the Delta Blues Museum moved into its own building at 1 Blues Alley, Clarksdale, Mississippi. See:

Coen, Chere'. "Carnegie Public Library, Clarksdale, MS: Downtown Building Created in 1914." VisitSouth.com 8 Nov. 2011:n.pag. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

Delta Blues Newsletter Mar. 2011: 3. Pdf.

Update 2/28/2013:

The following resources contain additional information about the Myrtle Hall Branch of the Carnegie Public Library (Clarksdale, Mississippi):

McAllister, Dorothy. "Library Service to the Colored Race." Mississippi Library News 17.2 (1953):112-113, 116-117.Print.

Gleason, Eliza Atkins. The Southern Negro and the Public Library. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1941. 76. Print.


Sources: "Clarksdale, Mississippi, Carnegie Library." Library Journal 55.14 (1930): 667. Print. ; Welly, Emily. "Building a Blues Legacy: Collection Gives Insight into Delta Blues Museum Founder." ILoveLibraries.org. American Library Association, 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. ; Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 70. Print. ; McMillen, Neil R. Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1989. 11. Print.

Arna Wendell Bontemps: Fisk University Librarian, Poet, and Author

Arna W. Bontemps (1902-1973), a native of Alexandria, Louisiana, was the first African American to serve as University Librarian for Fisk University (1943-1965). Mr. Bontemps, a 1943 graduate of the University of Chicago Library School, was also an author, poet, and a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He passed away in 1973.

See related post: Marcus Bruce Christian (1900-1976), Louisiana Librarian

Sources: "The Negro Writer in the United States: University of  California at Berkley Plays Host to Five-Day Seminar on Negro Literature." Ebony 20.1 (1964): 126, 131-132, 134. Print. ; Jordan, Casper Leroy, and Josey, E.J. "A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 7. Print. ; "Arna Bontemps Named to Library Board." Jet 4.9 (1953): 51. Print. ; "Fisk's Famed Librarian, Bontemps, Moves Out of Post." Jet 28.13 (1965): 25. Print. ; "Author Arna Bontemps Dies Reading Rosary at Wake of Meharry Physician's Wife." Jet 44.13 (1973): 44. Print. ; Campbell, Dorothy Wilson. "Curators of African American Collections." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 191. Print. ; Shockley, Ann Allen. "Special Collections, Fisk University Library." Library Quarterly 58.2 (1988): 151, 154. Print. ; Sinnette, Elinor D. V.  Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, Black Bibliophile & Collector: A Biography. New York: New York Public Library, 1989. 115, 129. Print. ; Jones, Kirkland C. Renaissance Man from Louisiana: A Biography of Arna Wendell Bontemps. Westport: Greenwood, 1992. Print. ; Jefferson, Julius C. “The Black Male Librarian: An Endangered Species.” The National Diversity in Libraries Conference. Louisville Marriott Downtown, Louisville, KY. 3 Oct. 2008. Pdf.


Update 09/13/2012:

An additional article on Arna Wendell Bontemps:

Thompson, John Downing. "African Americans and Education: A Study of Arna Bontemps."  Syracuse University Library Associates Courier 33, [paper 342] (2001): 77-99. Print.

Update 11/17/2015:

Arna Wendell Bontemps is mentioned in a piece I wrote on Fisk University:

Fenton, Michele. "Fisk University." African American Leadership: A Concise Reference Guide. Ed. Tyson King-Meadows. [Santa Barbara, CA]: Mission Bell Media, 2015. 93-94. Print.

Hallie Beachem Brooks: Librarian, Professor, and Indiana Native

Hallie Beachem Brooks (1907-1985) was a professor of library science at the Atlanta University Library School from 1942-1977. In 1964, she was appointed chairman of the Asia Foundation Grants Committee of the American Library Association. The Georgia Library Association awarded Ms. Brooks the Nix-Jones Award in 1979. In addition, Ms. Brooks was a librarian at the High School of Spelman College, an instructor in the Negro Teacher-Librarian Project, and the director of the Carnegie Corporation Field Service Program for Negro School Libraries.

Born in 1907, Ms. Brooks was a native of West Baden, Indiana, and worked as a library assistant and later a librarian at the Paul Laurence Dunbar Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library from 1922-1930. She received her librarian's certificate from the Indiana Public Library Commission Summer School for Librarians in 1924, and her Master of Library Science (MLS) from the University of Chicago in 1947. Ms. Brooks was a graduate of Shortridge High School in Indianapolis and attended Butler University (also in Indianapolis). She passed away in 1985.

See related posts: ALA History: 1928 Annual Conference of the American Library Association, West Baden, Indiana ; Lillian Sunshine Haydon Childress Hall: Pioneer in the History of Library Service to African Americans in Indiana ; and The Flanner Guild Deposit Station, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Branch, the Crispus Attucks Branch, and the George Washington Carver Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library (Indianapolis, Indiana).

Update 12/17/2012:

Hallie Beachem Brooks was one of several African American attendees at the 1928 American Library Association Annual Conference in West Baden, Indiana. One of the other attendees, Lillian Haydon Childress Hall, was the earliest known African American to receive a library science education in the state of Indiana. Hall was Ms. Brooks' supervisor, mentor, and friend when they worked together at the Indianapolis Public Library in the 1920s. Both women were graduates of the Indiana Public Library Commission Summer School for Librarians.

Update 5/18/2014:

Hallie Beachem Brooks is briefly mentioned in an I wrote an article on Lillian Haydon Childress Hall. The article was featured in the latest issue of Indiana Libraries (v. 33, no. 1). The link is below:

Fenton, Michele T. "Stepping Out on Faith: Lillian Haydon Childress Hall, Pioneer Black Librarian." Indiana Libraries 33.1 (2014): 5-11. Print."

Sources: Woodson, Almeta Gould. "Fifty Years of Service: A Chronological History of the School of Library Service Atlanta University, 1941-1979; the School of Library and Information Studies Atlanta University, 1979-1989; the School of Library and Information Studies, Clark Atlanta University, 1989-1991." Georgia Librarian 28.3 (1991): 71-73, 76-78. Print. ; "Summer School Students Accepted for 1924." Library Occurrent 7.3 (1924): 69. Print. ; "News of Indiana Libraries." Library Occurrent 8.3 (1927): 122. Print. ; "Gives Tea for Mr. Cullen." Indianapolis Recorder 5 Mar. 1927: 5. Print. ; " Indianapolis Girls Leave for Positions in South." Indianapolis Recorder 9 Sept. 1930: 6. Print. ; LeMon, Lillian M. "Indiana News." Chicago Defender 2 Jan. 1932: 11 . Print. ; "Atlanta U. Professor Heads Asian Study Fund." Jet 27.8 (1964): 20. Print. ; Jones, Reinette. Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky from the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s. Jefferson: McFarland, 2002. 116. Print. ; "Georgia Library Association Award Winners." Georgia Library Association. Georgia Library Association, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. ; Miller, Rosalind. "One Georgia Librarian: Hallie Beachem Brooks Remembers -1930 to 1977." Georgia Librarian 14.2 (1977): 29-38. Print. ; Totten, Herman L. "Southeastern Black Educators." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscence, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library, 1980. 200-201. Print. ; McPheeters, Annie L. Library Service in Black and White: Some Personal Recollections, 1921-1980. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1988. 11. Print. ; "Georgia Library Association Award Winners." Georgia Library Association Handbook, Appendices. 2003 rev. Rex: GLA, 2003. 58. Print.