- Cook, Karen. (2013) "Struggles Within: Lura G. Currier, the Mississippi Library Commission, and Library Services to African Americans." Information & Culture, 48 (1), 134-156.
- Accessible online at http://bit.ly/2mKiLZc
For my Actio #4, I researched into the Louisville Free Public Library Western Branch, which was the first public library for African Americans and staffed by African Americans. It was horribly fascinating to read how public libraries, self-educational institutions that should be open to everyone, tried to navigate segregation. Often, it seemed the libraries failed.
The difference in this article from my research for the Actio is that this article focused on a white woman, Lura Currier who felt obligated to follow Mississippi Law but was morally disgusted by it. Mississippi was the site of a bus boycott and of a library sit-in, so civil rights was a hot issue and integration was desired by many (both blacks & whites), so Currier wasn't unique in her feelings--she was unique in her position. She was the director of the Mississippi Library Commission. One instance that struck me was how Currier had to turn down opportunities or vote against ALA movements that would bar segregated libraries, as she did not want to disavow her workplace(s). There were split reactions to this then among the ALA, from 'how could she?' to agreement that Southern libraries shouldn't be abandoned over state laws. It was interesting (although, again, horribly so) to read the internal strife the ALA suffered over civil rights. But this article did show the need for places like the Western Colored Branch, which actually did something to serve African-American patrons, rather than argue.
This article also meshed with the topic of advocacy that has been discussed in my other class this semester, Public Library Management. Currier did get involved in politics, albeit as lightly as possible, by working to desegregate the libraries. Or perhaps it is better to say "not to seem fully committed to segregation," as she worked slowly but the quotes pulled from her correspondence that she did agonize over the right course to take in her decisions and tried to see ahead as far as possible. But it highlighted the trouble that can come when libraries don't fall in with state or federal policy.
The difference in this article from my research for the Actio is that this article focused on a white woman, Lura Currier who felt obligated to follow Mississippi Law but was morally disgusted by it. Mississippi was the site of a bus boycott and of a library sit-in, so civil rights was a hot issue and integration was desired by many (both blacks & whites), so Currier wasn't unique in her feelings--she was unique in her position. She was the director of the Mississippi Library Commission. One instance that struck me was how Currier had to turn down opportunities or vote against ALA movements that would bar segregated libraries, as she did not want to disavow her workplace(s). There were split reactions to this then among the ALA, from 'how could she?' to agreement that Southern libraries shouldn't be abandoned over state laws. It was interesting (although, again, horribly so) to read the internal strife the ALA suffered over civil rights. But this article did show the need for places like the Western Colored Branch, which actually did something to serve African-American patrons, rather than argue.
This article also meshed with the topic of advocacy that has been discussed in my other class this semester, Public Library Management. Currier did get involved in politics, albeit as lightly as possible, by working to desegregate the libraries. Or perhaps it is better to say "not to seem fully committed to segregation," as she worked slowly but the quotes pulled from her correspondence that she did agonize over the right course to take in her decisions and tried to see ahead as far as possible. But it highlighted the trouble that can come when libraries don't fall in with state or federal policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment