Black Public Libraries in the South in the Era of De Jure Segregation

Abstract

The intent of this article is to present an overview and analysis of the development of public libraries for African Americans in the South during the era of de jure segregation and through the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Written from the perspective of an educational historian, the essay seeks to discern salient continuities and discontinuities in the growth and desegregation of both public libraries and public schools in the South and within this broadened context to push both fields beyond the topical blinders that have too often characterized their separate historical investigations.