This year, as we focus on the theme of African Americans and Labor set by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the Founders of Black History Month, we reflect on how African Americans contributed to vocations across the workforce. Whether through agriculture or service-led industries, education or entrepreneurship, Black people have been part of the fabric of trade and profession for centuries.
As one of the few Black librarians at OCLS, I recognize the importance of acknowledging the hard work of those who forged the path to earn our space in the library and information science field. It remains imperative that we remember the racism, prejudices, and daily microaggressions they faced and fought against. Despite the battles, they persevered, creating opportunities for more Black librarianship nationwide.
Edward Christopher Williams was the first African American librarian in the United States. He was the first to receive formal training in the field, graduating with his master’s degree from the New York State Library School in 1899. Williams worked as a librarian at Howard University, a Historic Black College. He was also one of the first Black members of the American Library Association (ALA).
Orange County Library System’s Eddie T. Jackson was the first African American librarian to work in the Orange County Library System from 1924-1976. Because of segregation laws, Black Americans could not use the Albertson Library well into the 1960s. To address the absence of a library for its African American citizens, OCLS built the Booker T. Washington Branch, later renamed Washington Park, in 1924. Jackson worked tirelessly to establish a well-curated, community-driven library, all while earning a small wage. Today, OCLS recognizes Eddie Jackson’s contribution that brought the privilege of library access to Orlando’s Black community.
Black librarians paved the way for the desegregation of the field throughout the U.S., from Catherine Latimer, the first African American librarian in the New York Public Library in 1920, to Miriam Matthews, the first African American librarian in California, hired in 1927.
Dorothy B. Porter, a librarian at Howard University, was the force behind reclassifying books by and about Black people. Before Porter, the Dewey Decimal classification for African American books was under slavery or colonization. Porter aimed to change that by expanding the university’s collection and cataloging based on genre and author’s name. Libraries from other states contacted her for assistance in reclassifying their collections. Because of Dorothy Porter’s hard work and dedication during her forty-year career, all works belonging to African American culture, social justice, literature, history, etc., were correctly classified — effectively desegregating the Dewey Decimal System.
African American librarians have also risen through the ranks of the field. In 1970, Clara Stanton Jones became the first African American to be named the Detroit Public Library director. Six years later, she reached another milestone as the first Black librarian elected president of the American Library Association.
In 2016, Black librarianship reached another height: Dr. Carla Hayden was named the 14th Librarian of Congress, making her the first African American and woman to hold that title. Before her current role, Dr. Hayden held many positions in the field, including that of president of the ALA. Earlier in her career, she was named Librarian of the Year by Library Journal in 1995 and taught library and information science as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
OCLS had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Hayden as the closing keynote speaker for our annual African American Read-In in 2021. In her talk, she shared that when a librarian put the picture book Bright April by Marguerite de Angeli in her hand, it was the first time she saw herself reflected in a story. This example reminds us that a cornerstone of librarianship is ensuring diversity in our collections.
Today, as the field of library and information science has seen calls to ban more books, change the way the field selects material for public library use, and, in many ways, minimize the importance of librarians in their communities, it is more important than ever to remember those who challenged oppression, racism, and erasure. The percentage of Black librarians in the United States remains in the single digits. However, we will continue to push for representation, access to information, and lifelong learning as a right for all. The African American librarians who fought to preserve that right are among the many reasons we acknowledge and celebrate Black History Month.
