The African-American's Right to Use and Avail Public Facilities

During the slave era, there were comparatively few truly " ordinary" libraries in the entire coupled States and slaves, as a group, were not permitted to use these facilitates where they did exist. In occlusion of fact, most slaveholders strongly believed that teaching slaves to read was twain solemn and counterproductive. Those slaves and freed men and women who did read and were educated to some degree or another were generally not likely to be allowed irritate to such public libraries as did exist.

The earliest public libraries were established in urban centers and major cities such as capital of Massachusetts and New York by philanthropists (like Andrew Carnegie) and educators whose goal it was to provide access to study materials to the middle and lower classes in America. Though many of these libraries were establish on the principle that equal rights would be secured only on the basis of intelligence and virtue, the vast majority of public libraries f ared a predominantly Caucasian clientele throughout the nineteenth one C and into the early twentieth century.

During the Civil War and throughout Reconstruction, public libraries made little or no effort to serve African-Americans. Where libraries existed in rural areas of the American South, they were segregated institutions governed by Jim gas laws. Graham has stated that "it was the efforts of Black activists rather than librarians acting on their ethical impulse

Tolson, Nancy. "Making Books Available." African American

Louisville also was the first city in the United States to forthright a library training program for African-Americans. Only Covington, Kentucky allowed both Blacks and Whites to jointly use its library facilities in 1901.

Wiegand, Wayne. "This Month blow Years Ago."

Because of Jim Crow laws and segregation, most libraries denied Southern African-Americans library serve in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Though immigrant children in urban areas were encouraged to use public libraries, African-American children were educated one at a time and were not permitted to access the vast majority of resources in in public supported libraries.

African-American Public Library." The New Crisis,

Malone, Cheryl K. "Autonomy and Accommodation." Libraries &

Malone, Cheryl K. "Toward a Multicultural Public Library

Despite an end to Jim Crow laws and legally enforced racial segregation, many public libraries suffer from de facto segregation. urban communities are often segregated involuntarily along racial lines, with a corresponding segregation evident in a number of public institutions. Included are public libraries, which are seen by librarians, educators and public policy makers alike as a vital source of knowledge and empowerment for disadvantaged communities. Libraries right away offer access to important new information technologies, cast up school efforts, and facilitate adult literacy. As McDowell notes, much more than remains to be done to improve library serve well to African-Americans and their communities.

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