The Development of Southern Public Libraries and the African American Quest for Library Access, 18981963 [Hardcover]

Using the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Nashville Public Libraries as case studies,The Development of Southern Public Libraries and the African American Quest for Library Access, 1898-1963argues that public libraries played an integral role in Southern cities economic and cultural boosterism efforts during the New South and Progressive Eras. First, Southern public libraries helped institutionalize segregation during the early twentieth century by refusing to serve African Americans, or only to a limited degree. Yet, the Progressive Eras emphasis on self-improvement and moral uplift influenced Southern public libraries to the extent that not all embraced total segregation. It even caused Southern public libraries to remain open to the idea of slowly expanding library service to African Americans. Later, libraries social mission and imperfect commitment to segregation made them prime targets for breaking down the barriers of segregation in the post- World War II era. In this study, Dallas Hanbury concludes that dealing with the complicated and unexpected outcomes of having practiced segregation constituted a difficult and lengthy process for Southern public libraries.Dallas Hanbury received his PhD in public history from Middle Tennessee State University.

Dallas Hanbury uses case studies of the Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham public libraries (APL, NPL, and BPL, respectively) to recount the genesis, evolution, and integration of southern public libraries in the contexts of New South (1865?1920) and Progressive Era (1897?1920) agendas and local societal histories. [Hanbury] employs his research interests in African American history, local government records, and institutional histories to present a meticulously researched comparative study of the intersection of public libraries and race as evidenced in the library systems of three distinct urban environments.... Hanburys treatise, the only book-length treatment of southern libraries in an exclusively New Sl“+