Library Juice 2:32 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 2:32, August 18, 1999 African-American Contents: 1. John Berry Editorial: Culturally Competent Service 2. Assorted links on African Americans in the info universe 3. Western Journal of Black Studies 4. African American Male Research 5. Race Traitor 6. Khocolate Keepsakes 7. Encarta Africana 8. _Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship_ 9. Database of 4,000 images of African-American educational scenes 10. US Postal Service Black History Stamps Quote for the week: "My Alma mater was books, a good library . . . I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity." Malcolm X, _Autobiograhy of Malcolm X_ Homepage for the week: Chris Dodge's page, "Street Librarian" http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7423/ __________________________________________________________________________ 1. John Berry Editorial: Culturally Competent Service A new mandate to serve a new majority http://www.bookwire.com/ljdigital/editorial.article$28952 The idea of "culturally competent" library service is nothing new to librarians from the African American community or the many other ethnic and cultural constituencies in contemporary America. Yet true cultural competence has rarely blessed our professional practice or even penetrated our professional consciousness. __________________________________________________________________________top 2. Assorted links on African Americans in the info universe Black Caucus of the ALA. Founded in 1970, the BCALA was organized to promote the development of library and information services for African Americans and other people of African descent. http://www.bcala.org/ ALA's Spectrum Initiative, the scholarship program: http://www.ala.org/spectrum/index.html Quarterly Black Review of Books http://www.bookwire.com/qbr/qbr.html Mosaic Books - Black Literary Showcase http://www.mosaicbooks.com/ Cooperative Children's Book Center's list of Small Presses Owned and Operated by People of Color http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/pclist.htm Web Directory: http://www.everythingblack.com The Black World Today - an online journal of opinion http://www.tbwt.com News from FAIR: Media Blackface: "Racial Profiling" in News Reporting http://www.fair.org/extra/9809/media-blackface.html More articles at FAIR's Racism Watch Desk http://www.fair.org/racism-desk/index.html National Black Media Coalition http://www.nbmc.org NewsWatch Project: A project of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism, San Francisco State University Journalism Department http://newswatch.sfsu.edu/ Crashmedia article: Reel Heroes & Villains - The Black Liberation Archive that Survived Hollywood http://www.yourserver.co.uk/crashmedia/es/14.htm __________________________________________________________________________top 3. Western Journal of Black Studies http://www.wsu.edu/~wjbs/online.htm The Western Journal of Black Studies now presents The WJBS Online Journal as an addition to our normal subscription hardcopy. The WJBS Online Journal is designed to provide you with easy access to the most current volume and the volumes of the past two years. We have designed this site to be an instrument that you can employ to effortlessly view each issue of the journal. It provides you with links to each article's reference section and if used in conjuction with The WJBS Online Research Site it can be a powerful tool for both the novice researcher and the professional scholar. Articles are available as Adobe PDF files. Access to full-text is by subscription only. [ From News of New Electronic Journals - http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour ] __________________________________________________________________________top 4. African American Male Research http://www.tomco.net/~afrimale/ African American Male Research is based in Washington, D.C. and is edited by Chris Booker. AAMR welcomes articles, abstracts, original documents, or other information related to advancing the research and advocacy interests of African American males. Mission: African American Male Research aims to fulfill the burning need for timely, consistent, and incisive analysis of the social, economic, and political conditions surrounding the African American male. On a bi-monthly basis AAMR will: Summarize the latest social scientific findings most important to the African American male's interests and status. Provide timely accounts of the most important news developments impacting the Black male's status. Review legislation and related policy developments important to the African American male's collective interests. Review and dissect the most important political developments impacting African American males across the nation. Analyze economic trends and developments critical to the future social, economic, and political status of the Black male future. Advocate projects, programs, and policies in the interests of the African American male and the entire national Black community. [ From News of New Electronic Journals - http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour ] __________________________________________________________________________top 5. Race Traitor http://www.postfun.com/racetraitor/ Now on newsstands, the Winter issue of Race Traitor features a call to renew the legacy of John Brown and a public observance of his birth on John Brown Day 1999. Events are already planned for North Elba, NY, Altadena, CA, and Osawatomie, KS. Contents include Beth Henson's Plowshares into Swords: John Brown and the Poet of Rage, An Appreciation of the Work of Russell Banks; Abolitionism and the White Studies Racket, based on a talk given by Noel Ignatiev at UC Riverside, Constructing Whiteness at the Gates of Hell: Black 47's 'Five Points' by Lauren Onkey; Part II of Loren Goldner's Race and Enlightenment; and more. The New Abolitionist Society has recently launched a very active web site which features the full text of their newsletters (also available in PDF format) and news of their organizing. Visit their site for the latest information on John Brown Day events. Finally, several articles from our recent Special Issue Surrealism: Revolution Against Whiteness are now available online: Burning the Days, Murderous Humanitarianism (1932), and For Tyree Guyton. What We Believe: The white race is a historically constructed social formation. It consists of all those who partake of the privileges of the white skin in this society. Its most wretched members share a status higher, in certain respects, than that of the most exalted persons excluded from it, in return for which they give their support to a system that degrades them. The key to solving the social problems of our age is to abolish the white race, which means no more and no less than abolishing the privileges of the white skin. Until that task is accomplished, even partial reform will prove elusive, because white influence permeates every issue, domestic and foreign, in U.S. society. The existence of the white race depends on the willingness of those assigned to it to place their racial interests above class, gender, or any other interests they hold. The defection of enough of its members to make it unreliable as a predictor of behavior will lead to its collapse. Race Traitor aims to serve as an intellectual center for those seeking to abolish the white race. It will encourage dissent from the conformity that maintains it and popularize examples of defection from its ranks, analyze the forces that hold it together and those that promise to tear it apart. Part of its task will be to promote debate among abolitionists. When possible, it will support practical measures, guided by the principle, Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity. The editors publish things in Race Traitor because they think that publishing them will help build a community of readers. Editorial opinions are expressed in editorials and unsigned replies to letters. __________________________________________________________________________top 6. Khocolate Keepsakes by Teri Weesner, Youth Services Editor The cover of Cognotes' wrapup issue features a photo of elementary school children with one of the story quilts they created in celebration of Coretta Scott King Award winning books. Twenty-two children and eighteen adults, the students, parents, teachers and principal from Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, made the journey from Los Angeles to New Orleans to participate in the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Awards. Their program, "Khocolate Keepsake: Literacy and the Coretta Scott King Books" was the most authentic and moving program I attended at ALA. A fortunate few of us were able to see firsthand through drama, dance and poetry, the results of an inovative after school program. The children's stellar performance, their enthusiastic presence on the convention floor as both attendees and informative and gracious hosts of their booth, and their beautiful story quilts were a joy to behold. The children and their story quilts are shining examples of creativity, tradition and community oriented programing at its apex. Los Angeles-- Khocolate Keepsakes, an inovative K-5 after school program at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, initiated by principal Fanny Humphery, is a collaboration between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Khocolate Keepsakes Literacy Museum. A group of twenty students met twice a week with teachers Lisa Boutillier and Ginnene Branch and the founders of the Khocolate Keepsakes Literacy Museum, Camille Neely and Carliss McGhee. The children read, discuss and learn about the stories, authors, and illustrators of the finest African American children's literature. The children's creative response to this body of work is the creation of story quilts. Over the last two years, the children have made two story quilts. This process involves many different skills, including planning, math, and teamwork as well as various art techniques. The quilt panels represent the books they have read and learned from. (A complete list of Coretta Scott King Award Winner and Honor books amy be found at http://www.ala.org/srrt/cskawin.html) Exciting and inspiring aspects of the program include the children's visits to other schools to share what they have learned and created. his progrm has received immense support from parents, the principal and the Crayola Company, which has donated materials. New Orleans-- At "Khocolate Keepsake: Literacy and the Coretta Scott King Books" (ALA, Monday, 3-5pm) all the children participated in a dramatization of discovery, incorporating titles they had read with the refrain, "Is this heaven? This must be heaven!" (Heaven is this year's CSK Award winner by Angela Johnson (1998). Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers: New York) There was also a beautiful solo dance. Finally, a powerful recital by four girls of a poem about the four young girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing brought us all to tears. More tears came when the Camille Neely and Carliss Mcghee talked about what it means to be involved in Khocolate Keepsakes and honored the teachers and principal with certificates of recognition. The attending parents were also given props for the significance of their support and involvement with their children and the program. A video clip showed the children in a book discussion. The authors and illustrators were able to respond to and honor the children's efforts (including their journey from L.A. to LA) by coming to the Khocolate Keepsakes booth and signing the quilt panels which represented their books. The authors and illustrators also made visits to children at public libraries in New Orleans during their time at the conference. (Unfortunately, I only made it to the last half of the Coretta Scott King Awards Breakfast, so I missed the presentation of the quilt somewhere between 7&8am. Yikes! Talk about early on the last day of the conference! I thought all I would miss would be a meal I couldn't afford.) However, I did hear and immensly enjoy the speeches of the authors and illustrators as they talked about the works they had created and their relationship to them. But nothing compares to the relationship of the children to the books they read...That, is heaven! Story Quilts-- Read more about the tradition of African American story quilts. Nonfiction: Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringold's French collection and other story quilts. (1998). University of California Press: Berkeley, CA. Encyclopedia Smithsonian. (2-22-99). Always there: The African American presence in American quilts. http://www.si.edu/resoucce/faq/nmah/always.htm Freeman, Roland L. (1996). A communion of the spirits: African American quilters, preservers and their stories. Rutledge Hill: Nashville, TN. Tobin, Jacqueline L. and Raymond G. Dobard. (1999). Hidden in plain view: The secret of story quilts and the Underground Railraoad. Doubleday: New York. Juvenile Nonfiction: Lyons, Mary E. (1993). Stitching stars: The story quilts of Harriet Powers. C. Scribners Sons: New York. Picture Books: *Flournoy, Valerie. pictures by Jerry Pinkney. (1985). The patchwork quilt. Dial Books for Young Readers: New York. *(1986 CSK Illustrator Award) Hopkinson, Deborah. paintings by James Ransome. (1993). Sweet Clara and the freedom quilt. Alfred Knopf: New York. Ringold, Faith. (1992). Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the sky. Crown: New York. *Ringold, Faith. (1991). Tar beach. Crown: New York. *(1992 CSK Illustrator Award) Fiction: Perry, Phyliss Alesia. (1998). Stigmata. Hyperion: New York. Here are the story quilts on display in New Orleans: __________________________________________________________________________top 7. Encarta Africana On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Anita Samuel wrote: > ****Please reply to samuel[at]castle.beaver.edu**** > > I just heard Henry Gates Jr. on the Tom Joyner Show talking about his new > product: an encyclopedia on cd. It's my understanding that Gates' > expertise is African American literature. Has anyone read reviews of it > by African American historians? Is it a worthwhile investment for a small > library? > > Anita > > Be a blessing!! .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 19:58:09 EST From: Braham - Brenda <bbraham[at]umd5.umd.edu> Subject: Re: Cooperative Efforts -Reply It's interesting that this comes up at this time. I recently read a message from another listserv I am on about this CD. I think it is Encarta Africana or something close. Anyway, Molefi Asante, who is the African Studies coordinator at Temple University, has serious misgivings about this product. I don't know if I still have the other message or not. If I do, I will post to the list. Brenda Braham, Montgomery College .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . The CD-Rom is very inexpensive (I think no more than $50) Gates' official field may be African American literature, but he is also the Chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and one of America's leading intellectuals, black _or_ white. The encyclopedia was an idea originally championed by W.E.B. Dubois. see http://www.africana.com/ for reviews Jennie Berkson Reference Librarian Glenview Public Library 1930 Glenview Road Glenview, IL 60025 (847) 729-7500 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . I did find the message I referred to about the Encarta Africana. You can read for yourself what Molefi Asante thinks about the product. Brenda Braham, Montgomery College Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 14:11:06 -0600 From: Ukali Mwendo <ukali[at]concentric.net> Subject: Encarta Africana - Scholarship or Pimping? To: "Nexus Network"[at]concentric.net Errors-to: ukali[at]concentric.net Reply-to: ukali[at]concentric.net Message-id: <199901292011.PAA09938[at]marconi.concentric.net> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: DiffondiCool V3.1.1 (W95/NT) Delfino Solutions (Build: Nov 7 1998) Nexus Neighbors: The review below by Molefi Asante is passed on to us from Bro. Raymond Winbush (Fisk University) who is an active advocate, advisor and curator of the (original) Encyclopaedia Africana Project -- EAP -- as envisioned by our esteemed ancestors Kwame Nkrumah and W.E.B. DuBois. Some of us are aware of the controversy surrounding this undertaking (EAP) and the efforts being made to undermine and usurp it historic importance, so this essay by one of our leading scholars is both timely and necessary. As a supporter of the EAP, I encourage each of you to study, take heed and *act* upon this message. The EAP Home Page is located at: http://www.ulbobo.com/eap/index.html Peace and Power, Ukali ==================================================================== -----Original Message----- From: molefi asante [mailto:76104.440[at]compuserve.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 1999 9:19 AM To: INTERNET:rwinbush[at]usit.net Subject: RE: scholarship or pimping? Ray, you might want to see the piece that I sent to New York Times and the Chronicle, Stay in the Struggle, Victory is Certain! REVIEW OF MICROSOFT ENCARTA AFRICANA edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and K. Anthony Appiah, 1999. "African slaves or enslaved Africans?" that is the question that has caused so much African controversy around Microsoft's Encarta Africana. The issue is far more complex than the choice of words; however, the choice of terms does signal how this project was poorly conceptualized. Encarta Africana announces itself as the "comprehensive encyclopedia of black history and culture with authoritative content," but it is far from comprehensive or authoritative, and worse, has numerous inaccuracies and incomplete articles. . One would have thought that with a reported three millions dollars, the editors, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kwame Appiah, would have been able to deliver a much more polished product, both technologically and scholarly. Originally conceived as a completion to the famed project, Encyclopedia Africana, devised by Kwame Nkrumah and W. E. B. Du Bois, the Microsoft Encarta Africana project was embroiled in controversy with Ghana over the name itself. Thus, Encarta Africana was chosen as the name of the present project. Among the impressive features of the interactive encyclopedia are articles, audio clips, videos, and virtual tours. But these are features that can be bought for the price of money. What cannot be bought and therefore is missing, although it is essential for a project purporting to be comprehensive on the African world, is an accurate and rational point-of-view. Encarta Africana is more like a collection of documents from someone's attic, put together without any real order, organization, or objective. In this respect, it is little more than the sum total of the numerous articles, some clearly dated, and audio visuals presented in the encyclopedia, a grab bag of cultural and historical artifacts. To be fair to the editors and writers of the Encarta I have examined the project from an Afrocentric point-of-view, that is, from the standpoint of the agency of African people and the centrality of Africa in its own story. My views, therefore, will be severe on any project that ostensibly claims to be about African culture and history but is really the projection of Europe on and in Africa. I do not claim that this is a conscious activity on the part of the editors and authors; rather it is a default position in any intellectual adventure in the West if one is not self- consciously directed toward a corrective. Some writers have escaped the noose more easily than others; some remain oblivious to the danger. The writers of Encarta are frequently trapped into arrogant Eurocentric postures because they have little understanding of the totality of the story that they are trying to tell. So in telling a European story of the history and culture of Africa they become, more than anything, appendages to Europe; thereby peripheralizing Africa while writing about it. Neither Europeans nor Africans can really appreciate a project that rehashes so many sterile ideas. This is certainly not the project that Du Bois envisioned. It is not the project that should have been developed at this juncture in African history. In many respects it is a great disservice to the African people and is once again an indication of what happens to our own story when it is told by someone else. Of course, there are a some African writers in this project, but the overwhelming list of writers seems to indicate that the work was done primarily by European writers, despite the impressive board of black advisors. If this proves to be so, as I suspect simply by the name and credential list of the authors, then we are setback, by this process, for a generation. Fortunately the Afropaedia and other products do exist as correctives. I am not saying that whites cannot write about Africa. Indeed whites often do write well about Africa, particularly if they are Afrocentric in their methods and approaches to African phenomena. However, since most whites tend to be Eurocentric in their perspective then what they write will reflect how Europeans see Africa and Africans. The same can be said of Africans who have imbibed an Eurocentric worldview. It is not race, but perspective that matters in the process of analysis. Where one stands has a lot to do with what one sees and how far one sees. There are some serious problems with Encarta. My own analysis shows four areas that are quite deficient: conceptual, linguistic, factual, and political. The conceptual problem, I believe, stems from the fact that neither of the editors, Gates nor Appiah, is a historian. Gates is a rather accomplished literary critic and Appiah is a professor of philosophy. Now I am the first to say that one can overcome these deficiencies but one must have worked at the craft of historical writing in order to achieve some perspective. I do not see any historical imagination in this work and the evidence of literary and philosophical interests override what should be a strong historical underpinning. This project suffers because the editors have little appreciation for either point-of-view or historiography and have even less appreciation for proper periodization. Take the piece on Costa Rica. There is a paragraph that describes the country in the same way you would find in any encyclopedia. You would not even know African people lived in Costa Rica if you read the account. You would not even know the population of the country, not to mention how many Africans lived in Costa Rica. Where is the discussion of the Limonenses? Fortunately there is a good essay on Quince Duncan written by Dellita Martin-Ogunsola that explains much about Costa Rica, but you cannot get to Quince Duncan from the entry on Costa Rica. When a project of this monumentality is produced there should be ample checks on the nature of the writing. While it is true that the Afrocentrists make a big ado about language liberation, it is for a reason. You cannot use language that minimizes, penalizes, or degrades African people or concepts. To that end, when Encarta speaks of African kingdoms and calls them "great chiefdoms" this is not an aberration but rather it is the default Eurocentric position that claims kingship for Europe and chiefships for Africa and Native Americans. More critical, however, is the way Encarta speaks of African Religions as developments "South of the Sahara." There is no place in Africa that is not Africa. The Sahara itself is Africa and numerous peoples and settlements exist in the Sahara. Indeed one of the greatest legacies of the ancient world was the religion of the Nile Valley, and the Nile flows through the desert. One would have expected that even if the editors did not appreciate the Afrocentric theoretical perspective they would have examined it in detail to see where they could have corrected their text. Clearly there were no "African slaves" brought to the Americas and Caribbean; there were only African people, farmers, blacksmiths, fishers, and members of royal families, brought and then enslaved. The factual problem is little bit worrisome because the facts could have been checked or double-checked even if some of the 40 members of the advisory committee or 400 writers would have been asked to serve as hands-on editors. Of course, the editors must know what they are looking for and at what they are looking. There is no reason for someone writing on Kwanzaa to speak of the US organization as "United Slaves," when it never referred to itself that way and the nomenclature is probably that of the COINTELPRO. If I may be permitted, under the entry on "Afrocentrism" it is claimed that I coined the word in l976. As far as I can tell I never used the word "Afrocentrism," it remains a word used by those who seek to attack Afrocentricity. My book, Afrocentricity, was published in l980.. While I am on Afrocentricity, let me also say that the most significant intellectual movement in the African world for the past twenty years has been the Afrocentric movement and not to have a thorough and intelligent discussion of it is a major flaw in this project. Robert Fay, the graduate student who wrote the piece on "Afrocentrism" spent most of his time attacking Professor Leonard Jeffries. This leads me to the political agenda. I did not find a bibliography to indicate what was read by the writers before they wrote their entries; Robert Fay surely suffered from the lack of reading. The index itself is quite revealing. Amadu Bamba, the greatest writer, in terms of quantity in the African world, is not included. Furthermore, the leading contemporary African thinkers by objective standards are Pan Africanists and Afrocentrists. They are no where to be found in this project. Names such as Colin Palmer, Vincent Harding, Asa Hilliard, Maulana Karenga, Kariamu Welsh Asante, Marimba Ani, Yosef Ben-Jochannon, Cheikh Anta Diop, Herbert Vilakazi, Theophile Obenga, Chinweizu, Wade Nobles, Na'im Akbar, Manning Marable, John Bracey, William Strickland, and Ronald Walters do not appear in the index.If they appear elsewhere, they are very difficult to find. Even if you do not agree with someone's perspective or orientation you must demonstrate as a scholar that you are fair in your presentation of the historical information. The Encarta project is woefully lacking in spectrum. One could argue, although weakly, that this was a problem of space, that is, that some people were bound to be missed. However, it is suspicious when the people who are missed are Afrocentrists and when the medium has cyberspace capability. This product is clearly an instruction for future producers of such works on how not to proceed with an interactive encyclopedia on the African world. It is true that this is the first such interactive encyclopedia on African culture and history, and that is why it should have given us more, but we are fortunate that this is not the last. Much like Carter G. Woodson's famed statement that it took him nearly forty years to get Harvard out of his brain, we will be trying to get Encarta out of our brains for several years. It is useful, perhaps, that Encarta was done; it is bad certainly that it was done badly. Molefi Kete Asante is Professor, Department of African American Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia. Asante is the most published contemporary African American scholar with more than forty books and nearly 250 articles. __________________________________________________________________________top 8. _Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship_ H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by H-LIS[at]h-net.msu.edu (June, 1999) John Mark Tucker, ed. _Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship_. Champaign, IL: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1998. 210 pp. Index. $27.00 (paper), ISBN 0-87845-104-8. Reviewed for H-LIS by Lorna Peterson, School of Information and Library Studies, SUNY at Buffalo As a collection of fifteen articles representing research, personal narrative and bibliography, _Untold Stories_ is a significant contribution to the literature of the Black American experience and librarianship. The fifteen articles are divided by three sections: "Legacies of Black Librarianship," "Chronicles from the Civil Rights Movement," and "Resources for Library Personnel, Services and Collections." Each has excellent essays, containing high-quality research and writing. This review concentrates on the most impressionable of these essays--not meaning to rank the unselected as lesser, but rather to amplify the range of discoveries _Untold Stories_ offers, in the hope authors' voices will be heard, and the book will receive the wide readership it deserves. Marilyn Pettit's lead piece "Liberty & Literacy: Sunday Schools & Reading for African- American Females in New York City, 1799-1826" bridges race, gender and class politics in an exploration of Sunday schools as the common school for the most marginalized of early nineteenth-century New York City residents, Black girls. In analytic and unsentimental language, Pettit reconstructs the development and decline of this ignored "matrix for the acquisition of literacy and for the use of libraries and books, particularly for African-American females" (p. 11). Based on dissertation work, the research is thorough, meticulous, and a model of scholarship. Pettit consulted church records, city council minutes, and letters, and framed this evidence with a solid consultation of the secondary literature on free Blacks, Sunday schools, and literacy, thereby turning information into knowledge. Pettit's conclusion is particularly meaningful to librarians and one those in library education must take to heart. That is, as librarians we must take into custody the records of neglected groups so their histories can be written and library educators must educate professionals who "are alive to the research potential of such records" (p. 20). The gift of an historical narrative is that its story piques certain curiosities, thereby leading to new discoveries. Rosie Albritton uncovers in "The Founding & Prevalence of African- American Social Libraries & Historical Societies, 1828-1918" that the accepted, or designated, expert chroniclers of North American social libraries gave scant recognition to the existence of African-American social libraries, nor of the early work by Black historians who documented their existence. Albritton presents the story told, but not heard, and through her extensive bibliography reveals a lost history of the nineteenth-century African-American literary societies and social libraries. She integrates literature on Black and White social libraries with that of literary society history, to place the African-American experience in the context of American library history. Her appendix continues the work of Dorothy Porter and other Black library scholars giving a useful foundation for further research. The history of a single library helps us gain greater understanding of the public library in a social context. Andrea L. Williams illustrates the effect of segregation and its dismantling, in presenting the history of the Holland Public Library, Wichita Falls, Texas, 1934-1968. Under Jim Crow, the library was a testament to Black self-determination. Founded, funded, managed, and cared for by Black leadership for Blacks, the library held little interest by Whites. In integration, the library became of interest to Whites because of its status as a city employer, thereby offering a good salary. (p. 71). Here we see at least two outcomes of community interest in a library: as a place for education and inspiration, and as an institution which provides secure employment. This reader was struck by this because whether intentionally or unintentionally, the question of the library as a marginal institution appears in Williams's work. For example, the closing of Holland Public Library in 1968 stirred no controversy, although the closing of Booker T. Washington High School resulted in much protest. Williams concludes with this poignant quote regarding the public library's demise: We saw it as inevitable and necessary for it to close; it was a remnant of a separate but unequal age, that no one ever pretended was o.k. Keeping it open with all its inadequacies would be extending another remnant of a part of our history we were trying to dismantle (p. 75). Yet this would be true of the school, and still its closing generated community protest. The library's role in society is paradoxical in that citizens see its importance and dedicate resources, no matter how scare, to its establishment. But at other times the library seems to have an inconsequential role. Marginal or essential? Which is the library in society and from what viewpoint should it be studied? The second section, "Chronicles from the Civil Rights Movement," explores the structural barriers of law and social custom specifically related to librarianship. Dan Lee in "From Segregation to Integration: Library Services for Blacks in South Carolina, 1923-1962" skillfully uses correspondence from the Carnegie Corporation, annual reports and minutes of the South Carolina State Library Board, newspaper articles, census statistics, charters, and other primary sources to demonstrate resistence to library service to Blacks in South Carolina. For example, the Charleston Library Society turned down Carnegie assistance in 1905 "out of fear that acceptance of such funding would commit the staff to serving the general public, and therefore blacks" (p. 94). Lee also chronicles the attempt in 1921 to secure a Carnegie library for Blacks in Charleston which was ultimately unsuccessful. From 1928 to 1931, to meet the library needs of Blacks in Charleston, African-American Susan Dart Butler, the daughter of a minister, developed and ran a library at her own expense until it was made a branch of the county system (p. 95). Thorough, meticulous research by Lee shows how libraries were made separate and certainly were not equal, and how Blacks challenged, sacrificed, and by determination made sure the public library was a part of their community. In "Reading for Liberation," Don Davis and Cheryl Knott Malone reconstruct the role of libraries in the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. The story of library planning, book donation, maintenance and legacy is a fresh look at the role of libraries in civil rights. This article focuses on the writings of James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, whose papers were acquired by the University of Texas. In fact, it was the acquisition of this collection and the discovery that establishing libraries was part of the Freedom Summer, which inspired the 1994 American Library Association, Library History Round Table program and resulted in this book. This is a moving piece which presents the optimism of our profession, the faith in books as instruments of liberation, and the desire of people to have or withhold libraries in communities. In some cases, the Freedom libraries were all that a community had, in the end, some fell prey to arson, others merged with newly integrated libraries (p. 119). How many libraries were there? This is difficult to determine and is one minor flaw of imprecision in this work, where the authors refer to "15 or 20 [libraries] of the more than 40 centers" (p. 111). The final section, "Resources for Library Personnel, Services, & Collections," pulls together issues involving biography, bibliography and collection building. Its concluding bibliographic essay by Edward Goedeken is ambitious in its attempt to bring together a forty-year literature of civil rights, libraries and Black librarianship. This reader was curious as to the rationale of organization and the selection process of including works, and therefore wished for an introductory paragraph, specifying how the multi-disciplinary approach was applied. Also, the pathfinder approach of starting with general sources outside of library science somehow does not seem appropriate for the readership of this volume. And oddly, the title demarcates at 1994 but a 1996 article by Glendora Johnson-Cooper from a collection that also has a piece on Dorothy Porter is included.[1] Without knowing the selection criteria, for example, why was the fine biography of Nella Larsen, published in 1994, omitted?[2] This bibliographic essay though is a good start for the beginning researcher and the suggestions for further research is a thoughtful contribution. In reading a collection, too often one finds that the diversity of voices contributes to an unevenness of tone and tenuous relationship of content. The skillful and careful editing of _Untold Stories_ makes this the rare collection that does not suffer from unevenness and is thus enjoyable to read. But for me, there was a subtle and troubling aspect of the book that is marked by the epithet selected by the editor. It reads: The civil rights movement did not grow out of the dream of any one man, or woman ... The people who made up the Movement were almost as diverse as America itself. [It] was carried out by a tiny percentage of all those who could have taken part. And yet this small group was able to generate a wave that washed over the entire nation, that spawned similar movements in a dozen fields. (Powledge, 1991, pp. xi, xii [p. 1]) The Black American demand for humane treatment, for the full rights of citizenship, for liberty and justice is first, a Black story. Whites who fought Whites in the struggle for Black civil rights should be acknowledged. But there must be a way to do it that does not make the sympathetic white person the hero, or diminishes the courage of the oppressed by immediately acknowledging diversity. The use of white journalist Fred Powledge's quote stripped the strength, determination and power of Blacks who resisted and successfully fought White law and social custom of segregation, thereby muting these powerful stories. To talk about race and the legacy of racism is an unpleasant, hurtful task--so to sugarcoat it is tempting. To resist this temptation requires a will and responsibility necessary to the scholarly integrity in studying race and racism. Unquestionably, _Untold Stories_ is a remarkable collection and one that should enjoy a large and diverse readership. [1]. G.J. Cooper, "African-American historical continuity: Jean Blackwell Hutson and the Schomberg Center for research in black culture." In S. Hildenbrand, ed. _Reclaiming the American Library Past: Writing the Women In_, pp. 27-51. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1996. See also in the same collection: H.H. Britton, "Dorothy Porter Wesley: Bibliographer, Curator and Scholar," pp. 163-86. [2]. Thadios M. Davis, _Nella Larsen, Novelsit of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman's life Unveiled_. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. Copyright (c) 1999 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the author and the list. For other permission, please contact H-Net[at]h-net.msu.edu. __________________________________________________________________________top 9. Database of 4,000 images of African-American educational scenes Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 11:24:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Susana Hinojosa <shinojos[at]library.berkeley.edu> To: equilibr[at]ala.org Subject: New database of 4,000 African-American images (fwd) -Forwarded (fwd) I'm pleased to announce the availability of a new database of African-American photographs. The Jackson Davis Collection consists of approximately 4,000 photographs of African-American educational scenes in the southern United States, as well as several hundred scenes taken in Liberia, Congo, and other African countries. The U.S. photographs were taken by Jackson Davis during the period ca. 1915-1930 when he was affiliated with the General Education Board in New York, New York. Davis served as a field agent, as the board's general field agent, as associate director in 1933 and as vice-president and director in 1946. http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/jdavis/ The digitization of these photographs is part of an IMLS (http://www.imls.fed.us/) grant to the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library. The database as it exists now is very much a work in progress. For example, as you search you will find that some images are missing and the descriptive data is very brief. Grant staff will complete the digitization of the photographs in the next few weeks, and then will begin the process of researching the institutions represented in the photographs, concentrating first on Virginia, then on other states as time permits. We are making the database available in its less-than-perfect state because we think the contents are exciting and useful to scholars who might lead us to previously unknown (to us) sources of information about the institutions. At the end of the project, we hope to have a comprehensive database about these important early educational institutions. Please direct questions or comments to Rebecca Yokum, project supervisor, at rly5f[at]virginia.edu. ------------- Edward Gaynor Associate Director, Special Collections Alderman Library University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22903 (804) 924-3138 (804) 924-3143 fax gaynor[at]virginia.edu __________________________________________________________________________top 10. US Postal Service Black History Stamps http://library.advanced.org/10320/Stamps.htm The U.S. Postal Service has featured approximately 100 African Americans on stamps. At this site there is a page for each one that includes an image of the stamp and a one to two-page biography, with bibliography. Among the famous African Americans who are featured include Booker T. Washington, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dr. Allison Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., and Harriet Tubman. The site also includes a history of African Americans in the U.S. beginning with pre-colonial times to the present. There are links to stamp dealers, information on stamp collecting, and U.S. postage stamps. Another ThinkQuest site. - er Subjects: african americans - history | biography | stamp collecting Carole Leita, cleita[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu LIIWEEK Listowner and Coordinator of the Librarians' Index to the Internet http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/ __________________________________________________________________________top L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Except where noted, items appearing in Library Juice | are copyright-free, so feel free to share them with | colleagues and friends. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited by Rory Litwin. Original senders | are credited wherever possible; opinions are theirs. | Your comments and suggestions are welcome. | mailto:Juice[at]libr.org This page was created by SimpleText2Html 1.0.3 on 17-Aug-99.