Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries

Employed by the Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Library as Virginiana specialists, Chris Barbuschak, an archivist/librarian, and Suzanne S. LaPierre, a librarian, are well positioned to investigate the Commonwealth’s libraries. They remark that “Public libraries are often referred to as bastions of democracy, providing equal access to knowledge and shared resources,” though in the Jim Crow South and elsewhere, they often served White patrons only (15). Occasionally, Black residents had access to segregated high school libraries and their collections, but these facilities typically were not intended for use by adults. Community bookmobiles (which were sometimes segregated), libraries established and funded by and for Black people, and Carnegie facilities are mentioned. However, other library access options, such as Freedom Libraries, federal programs, itinerant libraries, Rosenwald or association-based facilities, and library deposit stations, are not discussed. The authors contend that the distinctiveness of Northern Virginia vis-à-vis other Commonwealth and southern locales, and the proximity to the District of Columbia, affected responses to library desegregation. This thesis is supported not with arguments per se but rather with summary case studies of select libraries.The book consists of three parts. Part I, “‘We Are Staying’: Northern Virginia,” includes desegregation efforts in City of Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Vienna, City of Falls Church, Loudoun County, and Prince William County. The Prince William County section highlights the library of the esteemed Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth, which, for many years, was the only high school option for Northern Virginia’s Black students. Part II, “‘We Stand on the Threshold’: Elsewhere in Virginia and Washington, D.C.,” addresses desegregation initiatives in Danville, Newport News, Petersburg, Portsmouth, and the District of Columbia. Conspicuous in its absence is coverage of the protracted efforts to desegregate Richmond’s public library. Part III, “‘A Deep-Seated Custom’: Context and Conclusion,” features topical overviews—“Lack of Advocacy from Library Associations,” “Public Schools Versus Public Libraries,” and “Implicit Versus Explicit Segregation”—that are better suited for the book’s introduction. The short conclusion primarily reiterates previously stated remarks.Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries is the only book devoted exclusively to the history of segregated libraries in Northern Virginia and select communities elsewhere in the Commonwealth. While only 29 pages (of 207 total pages of text, endnotes, and index) address segregated libraries in communities beyond Northern Virginia, these supplemental histories make the book more inclusive than the title suggests. Additionally, the authors note lesser-known Black people who were instrumental in Virginia desegregation endeavors for civic and civil rights. The accomplishments of Black library professionals Thomas Fountain Blue (Louisville, Kentucky, Free Public Library) and Daniel Murray and Jon F. N. Wilkinson (Library of Congress) are also mentioned.The histories and descriptions of segregated libraries in Fairfax County are fully detailed because the authors’ research is predicated on determining exactly when those specific facilities were desegregated. A few other library histories are detailed, but the majority are situational summaries of desegregation initiatives. These aggregated overviews provide basic knowledge of a range of Virginia libraries during the era of Jim Crow.A profusion of high-quality, black-and-white photographs, many of which were never previously published, are featured throughout Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries. Included are contemporary photographs by the authors as well as archival images. These well-chosen visuals complement and amplify the accessible text. In addition, at the conclusion of each city, town, and county entry is a section of “Existing Sites and Landmarks” that references places, spaces, people, and events related to specific library histories or to Black heritage and civil rights activities. The book concludes with endnotes, an index, and author biographies.Missing from Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries are substantive critical analyses, insights, and context that would situate Virginia’s desegregation efforts in the broader regional history of library genesis, evolution, and desegregation. There are, however, two noteworthy exceptions in part III of the book. First, Barbuschak and LaPierre suggest that White library staff members at the Thomas Balch Library (Loudoun County) “did not agree with segregation and perhaps even sought to undermine it” (177). Such attitudes evidence some White librarians’ support for intellectual freedom, though in most cases desegregation endeavors were launched by Black people. Second, the authors ponder whether African Americans were hired to work at Whites-only libraries because they could be paid less than White staff, which was typically the case (177). Further investigation of these issues would have contributed to the book’s content and value. In a few instances, Barbuschak and LaPierre refer to desegregation initiatives in both library and school systems, but they do not acknowledge their connection as complementary components of a community’s educational infrastructure. Here, too, authorial elaboration is absent.No work is directly comparable to Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries because it alone focuses on segregated facilities in the Commonwealth. Alexandra Zukas’s “‘A Power So Compelling’: Services for African Americans and Steps Toward Integration at the Richmond Public Library, 1925–1964” traces desegregation efforts in Virginia’s capital. Wayne A. Wiegand and Shirley A. Wiegand’s The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South: Civil Rights and Local Activism recounts desegregation efforts in two Virginia cities with long-standing histories of racism. LaTesha Velez and Melissa Villa-Nicholas’s “Mapping Race and Racism in U.S. Library History Literature, 1997–2015,” a historiographical essay, primarily explores race and librarianship but also addresses feminist and multiethnic intersectionality. Karla J. Strand’s bibliography “Disrupting Whiteness in Libraries and Librarianship: A Reading List” compiles materials that investigate the pervasiveness and impact of white supremacy in library environments. Wayne A. Wiegand’s “Sanitizing American Library History: Reflections of a Library Historian” recounts the narrative control that library associations exerted on libraries and intellectual freedom. Michael Fultz’s “Black Public Libraries in the South in the Era of De Jure Segregation” and Michael R. Kuffner’s “From Public Schools to Public Libraries: Examining the Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on the Desegregation of Public Libraries” examine the interconnections between components and services of educational infrastructures.1Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries is conceived to appeal to general readers and library professionals unfamiliar with segregated libraries and the ethical conflicts between libraries’ (and librarians’) claims to serve local community members while intentionally excluding Black patrons. Readers interested in the histories of Virginia’s public libraries as emblematic of Southern (primarily, though not exclusively) racial attitudes and mores will also appreciate this volume. The book is recommended for all Virginia public libraries, local history enthusiasts, and library historians interested in overviews of select segregated libraries in the Commonwealth. The book is also appropriate for high school students’ classes in social sciences, American studies, Black studies, and civil rights history.