Bertha Pleasant Williams (1923-2008) and the Union Street Library, Montgomery, Alabama

Bertha Pleasant Williams was Montgomery, Alabama's first African American librarian. Ms. Williams was born on Friday, June 29, 1923 in Montgomery, Alabama to Reuben P. and Mary Green Pleasant.  She was a 1943 graduate of Alabama State University where she earned a bachelor of library science degree (BLS) and a 1946 graduate of Atlanta University (Clark-Atlanta University) where she earned her Master of Library Science (MLS). Previously, Ms. Williams had tried to attend the library science program at the University of Alabama but was refused admission because she was African American. In 1950, she married Robert H. Williams.

Library service in Montgomery, Alabama began with the Montgomery Library Association, a small subscription library above a drugstore on Dexter Avenue in 1899. In 1904, with funds from the Carnegie Endowment (founded by businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie) the Carnegie Library of Montgomery, Alabama was built (later called the Montgomery City-County Public Library). However, library services were not extended to Montgomery's African American community. This changed in June 1947, when the Montgomery Negro Ministerial Association met to formulate plans to establish a library branch for the African American community. At the meeting, a task force, the Friends of the Library Association, was created and charged with making the library branch a reality. Members of the task force included:

Rev. Ralph A. Daley
Zenovia Johnson
Alice Martin
M. L. Pace
Dr. V. E. Daniel

A building was found on 409 South Union Street and was renovated for housing the library. The building was provided by the Sojourner Truth Club, an African American women's club. The name chosen for the library branch was the Union Street Library. Through the encouragement of library science professor  Dr. Virginia Lacey Jones, Bertha Pleasant Williams applied for and accepted the position as librarian for the newly created library.

The Union Street Library opened for service on December 8, 1948. Ms. Williams was determined to provide patrons with the best service and resources possible. She promoted the library and it services on the local African American radio station and in the local African American newspaper. She worked closely with the city's African American teachers to promote reading in the classroom and loaned books for the schools to use. Williams also established deposit stations, authorized locations to lend library books for patrons to use. Williams had help from people in the community -- some would help transport books to patrons since the city refused to fund bookmobile service for African Americans; others would contribute funds in support of the library.

As time went by, the Union Street Library outgrew its space and needed to expand. In 1960, a new location for the library was secured and it was renamed the Cleveland Avenue Branch.  In 1963, the entire library system of the Montgomery City-County Public Library was integrated. The Cleveland Avenue Branch was later renamed the Rosa Parks Avenue Branch. The branch was renamed again in 2012 as the Bertha Pleasant Williams Library at the Rosa L. Parks Avenue Branch.

Ms. Williams later worked at the library at Alabama State University. She was employed at the university for 14 years, 7 of which she served as head of the university's rare book collection and archives.

Bertha Pleasant Williams passed way on Monday, November 24, 2008 at the age of 85.  Her funeral was held at the Dexter King Memorial Baptist Church, in Montgomery, Alabama.  In 2012, a historic marker commemorating her work with libraries was placed at the Bertha Pleasant Williams Library at the Rosa Parks L. Avenue Branch.


Sources: Graham, Patterson Toby. A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2006. 56-62, 68, 75-80. Print. ; Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South, or Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 94, 126. Print. ; Knott, Cheryl. Not Free, Not for All: Public Libraries in the Age of Jim Crow. U of Massachusetts P, 2015. 28, 143, 262. Print. ; Wiegand, Wayne A. and Shirley A. Wiegand. The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South: Civil Rights and Local Activism.  LSU P, 2018. 51-53., 118-125. Print. ;  Robinson, Carrie C. "Alabama Association of School Librarians." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 51. Print. ; Blumenstein, Lynn. "Bertha Pleasant Williams Dies." Library Journal.com,  Library Journal, 1 Dec. 2008. Web. 30 May 2020. ; Edwards, Brian. "Montgomery Officials Honor Recognition of Bertha Williams Library with Unveiling of Historic Marker." Montgomery Advertiser, USA Today Network, 28 June 2019. Web. 30 May 2020. ; "Council Reaches Compromise over the Renaming of Rosa Parks Library." WFAS.com, WFAS12 News, 18 July 2012. Web. 30 May 2020. ; "Bertha Pleasant Williams." Legacy.com, Legacy, 28 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 May 2020.