George Washington Carver Library (Jackson, Mississippi) and Its Role in the Tougaloo Nine Sit-in

The George Washington Carver Library was established in 1950 to provide library service to African Americans in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1951, it became a branch of the Jackson Library System (now the Jackson-Hinds Library System) and moved into a new building in 1956. The Carver Library played a pivotal role in the sit-in organized by the "Tougaloo Nine", a group of nine students from Tougaloo College:

Joseph Jackson, Jr.
Geraldine Edwards *
James Bradford
Evelyn Pierce
Albert Lassiter
Ethel Sawyer
Meredith Anding
Janice Jackson
Alfred Cook


On March 27, 1961, the "Tougaloo Nine" visited the Carver Library to ask for books that weren't in the library's collection and then went to the main branch of the Jackson Public Library which had the books they were looking for. After finding the books, the students decided to stay in the main branch of the Jackson Public Library and read them. At that time African Americans were not permitted to use the Jackson Public Library's main branch. When asked to leave, the students refused and were arrested. The following year, four other African American students attempted to integrate the library by organizing a sit-in. They unlike their predecessors were not arrested. Eventually the library system was integrated. The Carver Library ceased operation in 1976.

See related post: The Tougaloo Nine and the Sit-in at the Jackson Mississippi Municipal Library

Update 12/09/2012:
* Click on the link below for a video on YouTube of Geraldine Hollis (maiden name - Geraldine Edwards) speaking on her experience as one of the Tougaloo Nine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X43BU-I9qP4

Ms. Hollis also wrote a book about her life and experiences in Mississipi, called Back in Mississippi. It was published in 2011 by Xlibris Corporation.

Update 12/11/2012:
Twenty-two years earlier, five African American men were arrested for their attempt to receive service at the Barrett Branch of the Alexandria Public Library in Alexandria, Virginia:

The Robert Robinson Branch of the Alexandria Public Library (Alexandria, VA) and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike
http://www.littleknownblacklibrarianfacts.blogspot.com/2011/08/robert-robinson-branch-of-alexandria.html

Update 2/28/2013:

The George Washington Carver Library is briefly mentioned in the following article:

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

The library sit-in by the "Tougaloo Nine" is briefly mentioned in the following article:

Cook, Karen. "Struggles Within: Lura G. Currier, the Mississippi Library Commission, and Library Services to African Americans." Information & Culture 48.1 (2013):136-137. Print.


Sources: Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 105. Print. ; Grant, George, comp. "George Washington Carver Municipal Library (1956-1976)." In Honor of: Libraries Named for African Americans. Jonesboro: Grant House Publishers, 2011. 119. Print. ; Lasseter, Cheryl. "Members of Tougaloo Nine Look Back at Historic Day." WLBT.com (Channel 3 - Jackson, Mississippi). WorldNow, 14 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. ; McBride, Earnest. "Hamer Forum Pays Tribute to Tougaloo 9." Jackson Advocateonline.com. Jackson Advocate (Jackson, Miss.), 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. ; "Remembering the Jackson Movement." Mississippi History Newsletter (Aug. 2006): 1-2. Print. ; "4 Young Negroes Integrate Mississippi Library." Jet 22.15 (1962): 24. Print.

Update 07/04/2026:

M. J. O'Brien has written a book about the Tougaloo Nine:

O’Brien, M. J. The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-in at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights. University Press of Mississippi, 2025.

The Tougaloo Nine and the Sit-in at the Jackson Mississippi Municipal Library

On March 27, 1961, nine African American students from Tougaloo College were arrested for their attempt to integrate the Jackson, Mississippi Municipal Library by having a sit-in:

Joseph Jackson, Jr.
Geraldine Edwards
James Bradford
Evelyn Pierce
Albert Lassiter
Ethel Sawyer
Meredith Anding
Janice Jackson
Alfred Cook

These students became known as the “Tougaloo Nine.” The following year, four other African American students attempted to integrate the library by organizing a sit-in. They unlike their predecessors were not arrested. Eventually the Jackson, Mississippi Municipal Library was integrated. It is now known as the Jackson-Hinds Library System.

Update 12/08/2012:

See related post: George Washington Carver Library (Jackson, Mississippi) and Its Role in the Tougaloo Nine Sit-in.

Update 12/09/2012:

Click on the link below to view a YouTube video of a program given in honor of the Tougaloo Nine by the Fannie Lou Hamer Symposium:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f_mG0hFvU4


Sources: Lasseter, Cheryl. "Members of Tougaloo Nine Look Back at Historic Day." WLBT.com (Channel 3 - Jackson, Mississippi). WorldNow, 14 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. ; McBride, Earnest. "Hamer Forum Pays Tribute to Tougaloo 9." Jackson Advocateonline.com. Jackson Advocate (Jackson, Miss.), 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. ; "Tougaloo Nine Honored." Mississippi History Newsletter (Oct. 2011): 1. Print. ; "4 Young Negroes Integrate Mississippi Library." Jet 22.15 (1962): 24. Print. ; Cutter, Jamie Irene. Getting by at the Benjamin Mays Black Branch: Library Access for African Americans in Jim Crow South Carolina, 1940-1971. MLIS thesis. San Jose State University, 2011. 56, 120. Pdf. 

Update 12/11/2012:

Twenty-two years earlier, five African American men were arrested for their attempt to receive service at the Barrett Branch of the Alexandria Public Library in Alexandria, Virginia:

Robert Robinson of the Alexandria Public Library (Alexandria, VA) and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike
http://www.littleknownblacklibrarianfacts.blogspot.com/2011/08/robert-robinson-branch-of-alexandria.html
 
Update 2/28/2013:

The library sit-in by the "Tougaloo Nine" is briefly mentioned in the following article:

Cook, Karen. “Struggles Within: Lura G. Currier, the Mississippi Library Commission, and Library Services to African Americans.” Information & Culture 48.1 (2013): 136-137.Print.

Update 11/03/2014:

 Some attempts by African Americans to integrate segregated libraries were met with violence. For example, on September 15, 1963, two African American ministers were attacked by a mob when they tried to enter the Anniston Public Library in Anniston, Alabama:

Integration and the Anniston Public Library, Anniston, Alabama
http://www.littleknownblacklibrarianfacts.blogspot.com/2014/11/integration-and-anniston-public-library.html

Update 07/04/2026:

M. J. O'Brien has written a book about the Tougaloo Nine:

O’Brien, M. J. The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-in at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights. University Press of Mississippi, 2025.

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.

Carnegie Negro Library of Meridian, Mississippi

The Carnegie Negro Library of Meridian, Mississippi opened in 1913. Located on the corner of 13th Street and 28th Avenue, this library was the first library for African Americans in Lauderdale County. Land for the library was provided by St. Paul's United Methodist Church, and $8,000 in Carnegie funds was allotted for the library's construction. In 1974, the library closed, and the building was torn down on May 28, 2008.

Update 10/28/2012:

Additional resources relating to the Carnegie Negro Library of Meridian, Mississippi:

"Improvements." The Christian Educator 27.2 (1916): 12. Print.

Work, Monroe N. "Libraries for Negroes." The Negro Yearbook: An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1921-1922. Tuskegee, AL: The Negro Yearbook Book Publishing Co., 1922. 268. Print.

Update 2/29/2013:

The Carnegie Negro Library of Meridian, Mississippi is mentioned in the following sources:

McAllister, Dorothy. "Library Service to the Colored Race." Mississippi Library News 17.2 (1953):113-114. Print.

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

Sources: McMillen, Neil R. Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow. Urbana: U of Illinois P. 1989. 11. Print. ; Beal, Billie C. "Freedom Summer and Integrating the Meridian, Mississippi Public Library." Newsletter of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association 36.3 (2007): 1. Print. ; McKee, Anne. "I Could Write A Book." Meridian Star 10 Jan. 2008: n. pag. Web. 7 Aug. 2011. ; Conner, Tametria. "Former Carnegie Library Demolished." WTOK.com. News Center 11 (Meridian, MS), 28 May 2008. Web. 7 Aug. 2011. ; McKee, Anne. "The Little Museum That Could, and Did, Thrives in the Twenty-First Century." Meridian Star 26 Apr. 2007: n. pag. Web. 7 Aug. 2011. ; Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 35-36. Print.