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UNT expert says Brown v. Board of Education altered the foundation and policies of public libraries
Though the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka is known
for integrating schools, it also changed the face of public libraries.
May marks the 50th anniversary of the case and the beginning of the process to
integrate U.S. public libraries. Prior to the Civil War, laws prohibited blacks
from reading as means to maintain their subjugation, says Maurice Wheeler, University
of North Texas associate professor of library and information sciences. After
the war blacks endured poor, segregated library facilities or none at all under
the policy of "separate, but equal" created by the 1896 Supreme Court
Case Plessy v. Ferguson.
"The law placed the responsibility of providing facilities and services to blacks
in the hands of each state," Wheeler said. "So the responses varied
according to local culture and politics – accommodations could be separate
branches, rooms, entrances, days of service, policies or more often no service
at all."
In fact, a 1935 survey of 565 public libraries in the country found only 83 offering
any kind of service to blacks.
Brown made states more accountable by proving that separate wasn't equal
and created a precedent mandating equal access in everything from colleges to
libraries. Beyond this legal foundation, making integration a reality was an
often-violent process, Wheeler says.
"In one of the most noted incidents two Alabama, black ministers were assaulted
by an angry mob for applying for library cards," he said. "In other
instances African Americans were often beaten, arrested and lost their jobs for
seeking access to a public library."
Those who demanded service were charged with disturbing the peace. It took a
second Supreme Court case Brown v. Louisiana in 1966 to create policies for public
facilities to be equally applied to all patrons. The response by some communities
was to close libraries rather than serve black patrons. Others removed all furniture
to discourage any mingling between black and white patrons, Wheeler says.
Despite, these challenges the libraries of today more appropriately serve the
diverse populations of their communities, Wheeler says, but there are still many
problems with access.
Now there is a tendency for libraries to be "ghettoized" by location,
he adds, so that libraries in poorer, often minority-dominated areas have less
funding and poorer facilities.
"Libraries are a reflection of what's happening in a society," he
says. "And you can tell a lot about a community by its libraries — if
an area is poor and underserved it's reflected in the libraries."
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Rufus Coleman (940) 565-3510
Email: news_service@unt.edu
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