Civil Rights in the Library

While in yesterday's post about Martin Luther King Day, I mentioned segregation in schools as being one of the things brought to an end by the Civil Rights Movement, I thought today it might be interesting to address another matter that hits very close to home for us here at the Syosset Public Library.

As noted in Ann Malaspina's Finding Lincoln, there was a time when some public libraries were also segregated. This very unfortunate matter is addressed by Malaspina's character Louis, an African American boy growing up in 1950's Alabama, who would very much like to march up the steps to his local library and check out a book on young Abraham Lincoln for his school research report. Sadly, a "Whites Only" sign stands between Louis and the entrance to his library. Louis decides to "shake things up" as he imagines Lincoln might have when he himself was Louis' age.

Bravely Louis marches into the library, where he is met by ridicule and harsh words from many. One librarian kindly whispers for Louis to return the following day after 5, when the building closes. When Louis does this, the librarian is waiting and helps him find the perfect book for his report. She also issues him a library card, which even Louis' parents were not able to get at that time.

While Louis himself is not real, he is based on John Lewis, an African American boy who had suffered discrimination when he and his siblings tried to enter the segregated Library in their hometown of Troy Alabama. Though John Lewis' story does not have the happy ending that Louis' had in Finding Lincoln, he did grow up to become a congressman for the United States many years later.

Though the Supreme Court finally ended segregation laws by the close of the 1960s, we must never forget stories like Louis'. We here at the Syosset Library are proud to work together as a diverse staff serving an equally diverse community.

Posted by Miss Jessikah