The Cossitt Library (Memphis, Tennessee) opened the Colored School Department of the Cossitt Library in 1913. This department was responsible for providing library services to African Americans in Memphis. Cecelia K. Yerby was the head of the department. The Cossitt Library also established services for African Americans at the Booker T. Washington High School, the Howe Collegiate Institute, and the Vance Branch Library.
See related posts: The Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library of Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee) ; The Free Colored Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library (Knoxville, Tennessee); and The Howard Branch of the Chattanooga Public Library (Chattanooga, Tennessee).
Sources: Yerby, Cecelia K. "Good Reading for Negroes II: A Memphis Library." The Southern Workman 43.10 (1914): 541-543. Print. ; Miller, Ernest I. "Library Service for Negroes in Tennessee." Journal of Negro Education 10.4 (1941): 636-637. Print. ; Hudson, Earline H. "Library Service to Blacks and Black Librarians in Tennessee." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 104, 109-110, 112. Print. ; Du Mont, Rosemary Ruhig and William Caynon. "Education of Black Librarians." Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Ed. Kent Allen, Harold Lancour, and Jay Daily. Vol. 45, suppl. 10. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1990. 111. Print.
The Lawson McGhee Library of Knoxville, Tennessee opened the Free Colored Carnegie Branch in 1918 to provide services for the city's African American residents. Charles Warner Cansler, a noted African American teacher and lawyer, helped secure a gift of $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie for the branch's construction. The Free Colored Carnegie Branch remained in operation until 1961. In 1930, the Lawson McGhee Library began offering services to African Americans at a second location, the Murphy Branch Library. The Murphy Branch is still in operation. The Lawson McGhee Library now serves as the central library for the Knox County Public Library System.
See related posts: The Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library of Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee) ; The Colored School Department of the Cossitt Library (Memphis, Tennessee); and The Howard Branch of the Chattanooga Public Library (Chattanooga, Tennessee).
Update 01/01/2013:
Charles Warner Cansler was the son of Laura Ann Scott Cansler. A native of North Carolina, Laura Ann Scott Cansler was the first African American teacher in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1864, Mrs. Cansler opened the Burnside School, a school for African Americans. The school was named for General Ambrose Everett Burnside, a Civil War general and U.S. senator (Republican - Rhode Island).
See: McRary, Amy. "Laura Ann Cansler Was Knoxville's First African American Teacher." Knoxnews.com. Knoxville News Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2012. Web. 1 Jan. 2013. ; Cotham, Steve. "Local Black History: Charles Warner Cansler." Knoxnews.com. Knoxville News Sentinel, 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 May 2012. ; "Burnside, Ambrose Everett (1824-1881)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present. United States Congress, n.d. Web. 1 Jan. 2013.
On December 29, 2012, a story written by Erica Taylor on Laura Ann Scott Cansler was featured in the "Tom Joyner Morning Show's Little Known Black History Fact" column:
Little Known Black History Fact: Laura Ann Cansler (written by Erica Taylor)
http://blackamericaweb.com/85492/little-known-black-history-fact-laura-ann-cansler/
Sources: Miller, Ernest I. "Library Services for Negroes in Tennessee." Journal of Negro Education 10.4 (1941): 637. Print. ; Hudson, Earline H. "Library Service to Blacks and Black Librarians in Tennessee." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 104, 109, 112. Print. ; "Knox County Public Library History." About the Library. Knoxville County Public Library, 2007. Web. 19 May 2012. ; Cotham, Steve. "Local Black History: Charles Warner Cansler." Knoxnews.com. Knoxville News Sentinel, 23 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 May 2012. ; "Burnside, Ambrose Everett (1824-1881)." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present. United States Congress, n.d. Web. 1 Jan. 2013.
In 1916, the Carnegie Library of Nashville (now the Nashville Public Library) opened the Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library of Nashville. It was built with a gift of $25,000 from Andrew Carnegie and remained in operation until 1949. Marion M. Hadley was the branch's first librarian. Other librarians to serve at the Negro Branch were Olivia Carr, Olivia Greenway, Hattie Watkins, and Ophelia Lockhart.
See related posts: The Free Colored Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library (Knoxville, Tennessee) ; The Colored School Department of the Cossitt Library (Memphis, Tennessee); and The Howard Branch of the Chattanooga Public Library (Chattanooga, Tennessee).
Sources: Wynn, Lynda T. Leaders of Afro-American Nashville: The Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library. Nashville: Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, 1999. Print. ; Miller, Ernest I. "Library Service for Negroes in Tennessee." Journal of Negro Education 10.4 (1941): 636-637. Print. ; Hudson, Earline H. "Library Service to Blacks and Black Librarians in Tennessee." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 105, 108. Print. ; "Photograph of the Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library, circa 1916." Nashville Public Library Digital Collection. Nashville Public Library, 2006. Web. 15 Jan. 2011. ; Malone, Cheryl Knott. "Quiet Pioneers: Black Women Public Librarians in the Segregated South." Vitae Scholasticae 19.1 (2000): 4, 11-13. Print. ; Malone, Cheryl Knott. "The Adult Collection at Nashville's Negro Public Library, 1915-1916." Libraries to the People: Histories of Outreach. Ed. Robert S. Freeman and David M. Hovde. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003. 148-156.Print.
The Howard Branch of the Chattanooga Public Library was established in 1913 to serve the African American citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Rev. Thomas Fountain Blue of the Colored Branches of the Louisville Free Public Library gave an address at the branch's opening ceremony held on October 11, 1913. The Howard Branch was later renamed the South Chattanooga Branch. Kate Brown and Ola Boatner served as librarians at the branch. The Chattanooga Public Library integrated its library facilities in 1954.
See related posts: The Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library of Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee) ; The Colored School Department of the Cossitt Library (Memphis, Tennessee); and The Free Colored Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library (Knoxville, Tennessee).
Sources: Miller, Ernest I. "Library Service for Negroes in Tennessee." Journal of Negro Education 10.4 (1941): 636-637. Print. ; Hudson, Earline H. "Library Service to Blacks and Black Librarians in Tennessee." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L . Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 104-107, 110-111. Print.
