A primeira mulher negra a conseguir o titulo em biblioteconomia nos EUA

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence (October 1, 1897 - 1991) was a trailblazer in both African-American history and the history of librarianship. In 1923 she became the second African-American to be formally trained in librarianship, after Edward Christopher Williams. However, she was still the first Black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library science.

Early life and education

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence was the only child born to Socrates Edward and Caroline Elizabeth (Proctor) Powell on October 1, 1897 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Powell Florence spent her early years in Wilkinsburg until both her mother and father died in 1913. At this time Powell Florence moved to Pittsburgh to live with her aunt.

After moving to Pittsburgh Powell Florence graduated from Pittsburgh's Fifth Avenue High School in 1915. Next she followed in her mother's footsteps and continued her education at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1919 Powell Florence earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin and went out into the workforce. Eventually Powell Florence moved back to Pittsburgh where she was encouraged by, her future husband, Charles Wilbur Florence to pursue a career in librarianship.

During a time when African-Americans were rarely considered for admission into predominantly white universities Powell Florence was considered for admission into the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library School (now the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences), There was much debate about allowing a black person into the program. School officials were concerned with how white students might react to having a black peer and the liklihood that Powell Florence would find work upon completion of the program was slim. No library in the Pittsburgh area had ever hired a black person with the amount of formal training Powell Florence wold have after graduation. After deliberation, school officials decided to admit Powell Florence in 1922 based on her previous academic achievement at Oberlin College.

Career

Although Powell Florence is recognized for her place in the history of librarianship, her first few careers did not lead her in that direction. Upon graduating from Oberlin, Powell Florence moved to St. Paul, Minnesota to work for the YWCA as a secretary in the Girl Reserves of the Colored Girls Work Section. After only a year, Powell Florence understood St. Paul was not for her and she returned to Pittsburgh.

Upon her return to Pittsburgh, Powell Florence realized that she wanted to become a teacher. While at Oberlin she was known to participate in community groups and campus literary clubs, and had a passion for working with children. Powell Florence thought the combination of her real world experience working with children at the YWCA and her degree in English literature would be more than adequate qualifications for her to become a teacher. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh school system did not see her qualifications in the same light. The Pittsburgh school system had integrated but they were not yet ready for black teachers to impress knowledge upon white students and therefore would not accept Powell Florence as a teacher. To her dismay, she could not find a job that she desired so Powell Florence settled and worked in her aunt’s beauty salon for two years.

Not only was it apparent to Powell Florence that working in her aunt’s salon did not fit into her career goals but it was also apparent to Charles Wilbur Florence. He did not want to see Powell Florence lose sight of her goals and was her main advocate for her pursuit of a degree in librarianship. Florence knew that Powell Florence had the right combination of academic success, determination, and a love for children and books to be triumphant in the program at the Carnegie Library School. Due to his encouragement, Powell Florence applied for the program and subsequently got in, despite the apprehension about her race.

Following her graduation, Powell Florence applied to libraries across the country that seemed most likely to hire an African-American librarian. Powell Florence was hired into the New York Public Library system where she remained until 1927. After leaving the New York Public Library system, Powell Florence achieved yet another first: she became the first African-American to take and pass the New York high school librarian's examination. After completion of the test, Powell Florence was appointed librarian at Seward Park High School in Brooklyn.

On July 18, 1931, Virginia Proctor Powell and Charles Wilbur Florence were finally married. They had decided to delay marriage until this time to focus on their educations and careers. In addition to Mrs. Powell Florence’s success, Mr. Florence was quite accomplished himself. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and spent two years at Harvard in a quest for a doctorate, however he did not complete the requirements. While in Boston, Florence was selected to become the president of Lincoln University of Missouri in Jefferson City, Missouri. After the wedding, the couple moved to Jefferson City so Florence could begin his appointment. Powell Florence took an eight year hiatus from librarianship to take on the role of “First Lady” of Lincoln University. In Missouri, she was described as a stylish, soft-spoken librarian fond of social teas and reading clubs.

In 1938 the couple moved again to follow another career opportunity for Florence, this time in Richmond, Virginia. Powell Florence was unable to find work for herself in Richmond and decided to take a position in Washington, D.C. away from her husband. The move to Washington, D.C. allowed Powell Florence to return to librarianship where she worked at Cordoza High School until 1945. Due to health complications Powell Florence stopped working in the Washington, D.C. school system and returned to Richmond.

Powell Florence’s health improved and allowed her to return to her career as a librarian. She worked in the Richmond school system at Maggie L. Walker Senior High School until 1965 when she retired from the field of librarianship.

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence died in 1991 at the age of 93 in Richmond.

Honors

Powell Florence’s contributions to librarianship were acknowledged decades after she became the first Black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library science. She was honored by the University of Pittsburgh in 1981 with a Special Award for Outstanding Professional Service and again posthumously in 2004 with a plaque in the lobby of the Information Sciences Building. Additionally the American Library Association recognized her endeavors by honoring Powell Florence in their list “100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century,” where she was ranked number 34.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Proctor_Powell_Florence

O primeiro negro a obter PhD em biblioteconomia

Virginia Lacy Jones (June 25, 1912 - December 3, 1984) was a preeminent African-American librarian who throughout her 50-year career in the field pushed for the integration of public and academic libraries. A trailblazer of her time, she would go on to become one of the first African-Americans to earn their PhD in the Library Sciences field as well as becoming dean of Atlanta University's School of Library Sciences. And while her name might not be the first on people's minds when thinking of the landmark librarians of the past century, her history and work in the field of library science will prove that she deserves to be among the examples to follow for up and coming librarians.

Early Life

Virginia Lacy was born to Edward and Ellen Lacy in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 25, 1912. She spent much of her childhood in Clarksburg, West Virginia. She recalls that growing up her family was “poor, hardworking, proud, and ambitious.”  She says that books and reading were always a part of her home life. She and her mother would make frequent trips to the public library in Clarksburg, which was not segregated. In 1927, Jones left her family and moved to St. Louis, Missouri to live with an aunt and uncle . The move could have facilitated the path to a virtually expense-free college education through the Harris Teachers College, as she desperately wanted to further her education but her family was not able to afford it. She entered Sumner High School, where her uncle taught, and completed her final two years of school in 1929.

It was while in high school that Jones realized the possibility that librarianship would be a part of her future. It was an experience at the St. Louis Public Library that inspired her most. She was researching information for her church’s citywide essay contest on “The Values of Attending Sunday School” when she encountered a friendly reference librarian . She remembers that after telling this librarian what she was looking for, the librarian took her by the hand and showed her how to use the periodical indexes. Jones recalls, “This experience was a thrilling one for me, and my imagination ran wild at the magic of the St. Louis Public Library, a great storehouse of information, ideas, and inspiration. I thought that to be a librarian like that reference librarian who helped me in the St. Louis Public Library would be the greatest thing in the world.”

Education and Librarianship

After high school, Jones abandoned the idea of becoming a teacher and instead enrolled at the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia; the only library school in the South where African-Americans could be trained. Here she met Florence Curtis. Curtis would play an integral role in Jones’ career. Curtis was the director of the library school and would become a mentor to Jones, who earned a B.S. in Library Science from Hampton in 1933. Later that same year, she found employment in Kentucky as the assistant librarian of Louisville Municipal College, which was the African-American branch of the segregated University of Louisville. She soon realized that a career in librarianship would require an advanced degree, but in order to do so she first had to complete a bachelor’s degree in education. Jones returned to the Hampton Institute and earned a B.S. in Social Studies Education in 1935.

At this time, a realization of the importance of training for African-American school librarians began. Florence Curtis proposed the establishment of regional centers to provide summer classes for these librarians and chose Jones to head the program at the Prairie View A&M College in Texas. Here courses were taught in reference, book selection, school library administration, and cataloging and classification.

In the fall of 1936, Jones returned to Louisville Municipal College as Head Librarian. . In addition to acting as Head Librarian, she also taught courses for African-American public and high school librarians who needed to earn college credit in order to be certified by the state. Now ready to begin her graduate education, Virginia Lacy Jones received a General Education Board fellowship upon recommendation from her mentor Florence Curtis, to attend the University of Illinois. Curtis strongly believed that Jones would be beneficial to library development for African-Americans in the South. In 1938, Jones completed a Master’s in Library Science. Upon completion of her Master’s degree, she returned once again to Louisville Municipal College as librarian and instructor. However, there had been a change in leadership while Jones was away, and when it became apparent that she could no longer tolerate the working environment Jones resigned .

The day following her resignation, Rufus Clement offered Jones a position as catalog librarian at Atlanta University. She had known Clement from Louisville Municipal College where he had been president. Clement had recently accepted the position of president at Atlanta University, where he had plans to create a library school to replace the school at the Hampton Institute, which had closed its doors.

Leaving Kentucky for Atlanta, Jones found herself taking part in something very exciting. Her new position allowed her to participated in the planning of what would become the Atlanta University School of Library Service. She was sent to library schools throughout the Eastern United States to observe the various programs. The school opened in the fall of 1941. The purpose and commitment of the school was to not only train librarians, but to create leaders for the betterment of library services in the South in general, and for African-Americans in particular. Again Jones held dual positions within the university. She was catalog librarian as well as an instructor. It was also in the fall of 1941 that she married Edward Allen Jones, Professor of French and Chairman of the Foreign Languages Department at Morehouse College.

After she had been teaching for two years at Atlanta University, Virginia Lacy Jones was awarded a second fellowship provided by the General Education Board. This allowed Jones to attend the University of Chicago where, in 1945, she became the second African-American to earn a doctorate in Library Science. Her dissertation was on “The Problems of Negro Public High School Libraries in Selected Southern Cities.” 

She served on the faculty at the Atlanta University School of Library Service until she was appointed Dean in 1945. She was the second person to hold this position, the first being Eliza Atkins Gleason who was the first African-American to receive a doctorate in Library Science. Her tenure as Dean of the School of Library Service ran until 1981. During the 36 years Jones spent as Dean, the school trained some 1800 black librarians, which was more than any school in the country.

After her retirement, Virginia Lacy Jones was appointed the first director of the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center , a position she held from 1982-1983. During her professional career, Jones wrote on issues that concerned libraries in the South and those dealing with Library Science education for African-Americans. The Robert W. Woodruff Library now houses 18.5 linear feet of these papers, as well correspondences, personal letters, and photographs all pertaining to her life.

Honors and Awards

During her professional career, Virginia Lacy Jones received numerous awards and recognitions. In 1967, she was elected the first African-American president of the Association of American Library Schools. That same year President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the President’s Advisory Committee on Library Research and Training Projects where she was responsible for the report on Childrens and Youth Services. In 1973, Jones was awarded the Melville Dewey Award by the American Library Association. She was the first African-American to receive this award and the Joseph E. Lippincott Award, which she was given in 1977. In 1976 she was elected to honorary membership in ALA. This is the association’s highest honor. Other awards given to Jones include: an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Michigan (1979), Beta Phi Mu (Library Science Honorary Society) Award (1980), and the Mary Rothrock Award (1980).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Lacy_Jones

Happy Kwanzaa

Why was Kwanzaa created?

- To reaffirm the communitarian vision and values of African culture and to contribute to its restoration among African peoples in the Diaspora, beginning with Africans in America and expanding to include the world African community.

- To introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles and through this, introduce and reaffirm communitarian values and practices which strengthen and celebrate family, community and culture. These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kuji-chagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).

- To serve as a regular communal celebration which reaffirmed and reinforced the bonds between us as a people in the U.S., in the Diaspora and on the African continent, in a word, as a world African community. It was designed to unite and to strengthen African communities.

As an act of cultural self-determination, as a self-conscious statement of our own unique cultural truth as an African people. That is to say, it is an important way and expression of being African in a multicultural context.

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml

Livros sobre biblioteconomia negra

A primeira bibliotecária a obter o título de Ph.D. em Biblioteconomia, e a primeira reitora da escola de biblioteconomia da Universidade de Atlanta

Eliza Atkins Gleason ( 1909 - 1993), American librarian and educator, was first Dean of the School of Library Service, Atlanta University, and the architect of a library education program that trained more than 90 percent of all black librarians in the United States.

She was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, December 15, 1999, to Simon Green and Oleona Pegram Atkins. Her father was the founder and first President of Slater State College, now Winston-Salem State University, and her mother was a teacher.

After graduating from Fisk University in 1930 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Elza Atkins received the Bachelor of Science degree from the Library School of the University of Illinois in 1931. In 1936 she received the Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Carlifornia at Berkeley. She studied at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School and in 1940 became the first black person to receive the Ph.D. in Library Science. She was married to Maurice F. Gleason, a physician, in 1937.

The Dean of the School of Library Service, Atlanta University (1940-46), which opened in 1941, Gleason was aware that the success of the program, even in a period of segregation and rampant discrimination against black persons, depended on a philosophy that was responsive to current human needs but at the same time capable of being remodeled and reshaped when necessary. She wrote, "these objectives are enunciated with the full recognition that no institution can long remain an active force unless it is sensitive to contemporary life, which implies a willingness to accept change. A program of this kind, therefore, predisposes that the objectives of the School of Library Service of Atlanta University are not static but that they may be altered according to the best judgment of the school in what seems to be the present and long-term needs of library service with special reference to the Negro" (Libray Quartely, July 1942).

Gleason´s professional career was distinguished, wide, varied, and productive. In 1931 and 1932 she was Librarian of the Louisville Municipal College. In 1932 she accepted the position of Head of the Reference Department and Assistant Professor at Fisk and served there until 1936. In 1936-37 she ws Director of Libraries at Talladega College, where she became aware of the lack of public library service to black people in the South and began to open the college library resources to black citizens in the surrounding communities. Her interest in access to public libraries for black Americans is reflected in her landmark dissertation, The Southern Negro and the Public Library (1941).

In 1953 Gleason beconme Head of the Reference Department of the Wilson Junior College Library in chicago. In 1953-54 she was Associate Professor of Library Science, Illinois Teachers College, Chicago, from 1954 to 1963. From 1964 to 1967 she was Assistant Librarian at John Crear Library in Chicago. She was Professor of Library Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, from 1967 to 1970. In 1970 she became Assistant Chief Librarian in charge of the regional centers, Chicago Public Library.

Writing in Illinois Libraries (April 1972) about the establishment of the Chicago Public Library´s regional library centers, Gleason manifests her continuing interests in students and education:

In planning for Regional Center service, what potential users did the Chicago Public Library have in ming ? It had in mind "students" - students of all kinds. Can one imagine a greater boon for the high school teen-agers who are in honors or accelerated courses, or for junior college students whose programs are terminal, or for junior and senior college students whose own college libraries may be inadequate or on the wrong side of town when they have time to study ? And finally, there is that vast hoard of "students" who are not entolled in formal courses but who wish to pursue a subject in depth.

In the 1974-75 academic year she again returned to the library education and served as Professor of Library Science at Northern Illinois University.

Active in professional associations, Gleason was the first Afro- American to serve on the ALA Council; she was a member from 1942 to 1946. In 1964 Fisk bestowed upon her its Alumni Award for outstanding accomplishments.

In addition to her book on The Southern Negro and the Public Library: A Studey of the Government and Administration of Public Library Service to Negroes in the South (1941), she wrote A History of the Fisk Universtity Library (1936) and a large number of journal articles.

A woman of great energy and resourcefulness, Gleason led and active community life. She was elected and apponinted to manu positions of ledership. In 1978, for example, she was appointed to the Chicago Public Library Board. While most people are in or considering retirement as they begin their 70th year, she demonstrated her vitaly by beginning - in the fall of 1978 she was appointed Executive Director of the Chicago Black United Fund.

Her death in 1993

Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award is presented by the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association every third year to recognize the best book written in English in the field of library history, including the history of libraries, librarianship, and book culture.

fonte : World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services, 1993

O Bibliotecário : O mais improvável heroi do mundo esta de volta para sua maior aventura

O primeiro negro a se tornar bibliotecário profissional (Quase o primeiro Ph.D.)

Edward Christopher Williams (1871 – 1929) was the first African-American professional librarian in the United States of America. His sudden death in 1929 ended his career the year he was expected to receive the first Ph.D. in librarianship. Williams was born on February 11, 1871, in Cleveland, Ohio, to an African-American father and an Irish mother. Upon his graduation with distinction from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1892, he was appointed Assistant Librarian of Hatch Library at WRU. Two years later, he was promoted to librarian of Hatch Library until 1909, when he resigned to assume the responsibility of the Principal of M Street High School in Washington, D.C. He continued his career as University Librarian of Howard University until his death on December 24, 1929.

Life

Edward Williams was the only son of Daniel P. Williams, a respected personality in Cleveland, and Mary Kilkary Williams, who was of Irish origin. Edward received his education in the public schools of Cleveland, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1892. As a distinguished student, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa fraternity.
Edward married Ethel Chesnutt, the daughter of the famous writer Charles Waddell Chesnutt, in 1902. They had one son, Charles Edward Williams, who later became a lawyer, and died before completing a biography of his father.

 

Career

Williams began his library career in 1892 as an assistant librarian in Hatch Library of Western Reserve University. After two years, he was promoted to library director. In 1898, Williams took a sabbatical leave to pursue a Master's degree in librarianship at New York State Library. He completed the two year program in one year, and went back to resume his responsibilities at Western Reserve University as Librarian and Instructor until 1909. During his library career at Hatch Library, Williams developed an eminent library collection which remains to this day.
Prior to the establishment of the WRU Library School, Williams taught some courses in national bibliography. Upon opening the library school in 1904, he was appointed instructor of bibliography and reference. In 1909, Williams resigned from his position at WRU and was appointed as Principal of the M Street High School (Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C., where he served 7 years. In 1916, Williams was elected head librarian of Howard University, where he spent 13 years serving the University Library and developing its collection. Williams also assumed additional responsibilities as a professor of bibliography and instructor of German language. During his career at Howard University, he advocated for the need for professional personnel, and he worked on improving the quality of the library resources.

 

Library associations

In addition to his profession as librarian and instructor, Williams collaborated on the establishment of many associations. He was a founding member of the Ohio Library Association (OLA) and was elected secretary in 1904. As the chairman of the Ohio Library Association’s College Section, he gave many speeches and lectures at the Ohio Institute of Library Workers. Williams was also a member of the American Library Association and assisted in its conventions and sessions. He gave a lecture in 1928 in a session of ALA’s College and Reference titled "Library Needs of Negro Institutions".
Williams also served as vice-president of the New York State Library School Association in 1904.

 

Works

In addition to his library profession, Williams was also an author and translator. His works include: The Exile (an Italian classical drama), The Sheriff’s Children, The Chasm, and many articles, poems and short stories published in The Messenger Magazine between 1925 and 1927. Williams’ main writings were based on the problems of Washington’s black society as in his article “Letters of Davy Carr, a True Story of Colored Vanity Affair” published in the Messenger. Sometimes, he used a fake name (Bertiuccio Dantino) to sign his articles. Williams excelled in five languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. He translated some documents from different languages into English. Early in his career, he received job offers to become a translator.

 

Death

Williams was preparing for advanced studies to earn the first Ph.D. in library science offered by Columbia University, when he died unexpectedly on December 24, 1929. The funeral was held at the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel on the Howard University campus, in the presence of the President of the University, Dr. Mordecai Johnson, who presided over the ceremony. Edward Christopher Williams was buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.
Edward Williams was not only a successful professional librarian and author at the time of segregation but a social activist too. He was raising the problems and challenges faced by the black people libraries as deteriorated buildings, shortage in staff and lack of funding at every convention. He was also helping young black men and women to pursue their education and expand their knowledge to become successful people .
Williams admired Saint Augustine, and his favorite quotation was “Always proceed, never stand still nor go back nor deviate. Be always displeased at what thou art. If thou sayest 'I have enough,' thou diest,” which was reflected clearly throughout his life and career.

 

Chronology

1892: BA degree from Western Reserve University

1892: Assistant Librarian in Hatch Library

1894: Librarian of the Hatch Library

1899–1900: Graduate Studies at New York State Library School

1904: Faculty member at WRU Library School

1904: Secretary of the Ohio Library Association

1904: Vice-President of the New York State Library School Association

1909: Principal of M Street High School in Washington DC

1916: Professor of Bibliography, Director of the Library Training Class and Librarian of Howard University

1929: Advanced study (PhD) offered by Columbia University was uncompleted because of illness and death


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Christopher_Williams