Kentucky was the first North American state to establish a free public library exclusively for African Americans. The library, located in Louisville, Kentucky, was managed by Thomas Fountain Blue, the first African American to manage a public library. The establishing of the Colored Library and Thomas Fountain Blue's Apprentice Training Program was the beginning of librarianship and libraries for African Americans in Kentucky.

Much of the recorded history of the Kentucky African American librarian centers around Thomas Fountain Blue and the Louisville Free Public Library. Few librarians know of this history or its continued path; therefore it will be told here, again. The history of Kentucky's African American librarians is not a separate history, nor is it a remaking of history. Rather it is a part of the history of Kentucky and all its librarians.

The first Colored library and its manager was a newsworthy event at the beginning of the 1900's. Thomas Fountain Blue and his staff were invited to meetings and conferences in various states, they were sought for consultations, all of which generated meeting reports and other written accounts.

A librarians' conference was established under Kentucky's Negro education organization. Library members and activities were recorded in the parent organization's journal.

The librarian's conference existed for more than a decade. Then, the beginnings of desegregation came about and the African American meetings, conferences, organization, and journal were abandoned in exchange for accessibility and opportunities outside the Colored libraries. The Kentucky African American librarian was sifted into the larger library system and thus began disappearing from the written page. Over the next 40 years scattered bits of information could be found embedded within larger publications.

Today African American librarians are employed at the various types of libraries throughout Kentucky. Desegregation, Civil Rights, and Affirmative Action have allowed African Americans the hope of competing for educational and employment opportunities, and to seek advancement within professions. (Kleber 1992, Jaynes & Williams 1989). This includes libraries and librarians.

However, the hope of opportunity and advancement were never intended to erase the African American and leave a professional without a history or a continuance of history. It has been 91 years since the Western Colored Branch opened and Thomas Fountain Blue began training African American librarians. This was a first for Kentucky, and the South. Many firsts have taken place since then, and some continue to be the first and no more.

We often hear talk of recruitment and retention of potential African American librarians. It is wise to take heed of the past before planning for a future, perhaps then there will be answers as to why the overall library profession has made little progress in creating a diversified work force (Buttlar & Caynon 1992, McCook & Geist 1993, Berry 1994, Curry 1994, Kemp 1994). Or, why African American librarians sometimes feel isolated and have a need to network with each other (Burns 1992).

Slavery was outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment in Kentucky in 1865. African Americans were free, but freedom did not take away the confrontations of discrimination, intimidation, and continuous efforts to create a segregated society (Lucas 1992).

Carmen G. Samuels, present manager of the Lousiville Free Public Library Western Branch, explains why a library was built for Louisville's African Americans.

"This library was built to placate several of the leaders of this city who had went down to the main library and were refused service. One of them was Alfred Meyzeek. There is a biography called Old War Horse of Kentucky, by J. Benjamin Horton. He [Meyzeek] was known for his efforts for trying to provide equity in education. In essence, they [city leaders] said if we can't be a part of it, build us our own library."

It was decided that a separate branch library would be created. It would be supervised by the Louisville Free Public Library, and Thomas Fountain Blue would be the library manager. Blue was not a trained librarian; he received library training from personnel at the main library. Main library personnel also assisted Blue in training his staff of African American women (Work Projects Administration 1944, Wright 1955).

The Western Colored Branch Library opened September 1, 1905, and became the first free public library for African Americans and managed by African Americans. Now Louisville's more than 39,000 African Americans had their own library, a collection of 1,400 carefully selected books in three rooms of the private residence at 1125 W. Chestnut Street (Wright 1955, Work Projects Administration 1944, Bureau of the Census 1901?). Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington, was the first book checked-out (Wright 1955).

In 1908 the Western Colored Branch Library relocated to a new building at Tenth and Chestnut Streets (Work Projects Administration 1944, Wright 1955, Josey & Shockley 1977). Carmen G. Samuels said the building itself was a major event.

"At that time Andrew Carnegie was giving grants to libraries, especially for patrons that were underserved. This was a unique experience because there had never been a grant for what was known as a Colored Library. Not a building for Blacks. There were places like a basement room, or you go in the back, or there was a specific room you could go into. But never a complete building."

"When they got the Carnegie grant for the building, the administration immediately separated the department. This was known as the Colored Department. So after this one was built there was another one built out at Eastern. Those two libraries represented the Colored Department. They also had collections at various areas known as Little Africa, Black areas and Black schools. It was a pretty viable and separate system back at the turn of the century."

Eastern Colored Branch was established at Hancock and Lampton Streets in 1912 (Work Projects Administration 1944, Wright 1955).

Blue was now manager of two branch libraries and he had trained the female staff of both branches. News of Blue's library training classes grew to be recognized beyond the public library, and beyond Louisville. Soon he was training African American women throughout the South for library service (Work Projects Administration 1944, Wright 1955). Samuels explains why Blue's training program expanded.

"In the South there was no place for Black librarians to go. The first official library school was Hampton, and that was quite a few years afterwards. There was a need. There were especially more women. Other states in the south were inquiring about this library because they wanted to give some service, but they didn't want them [African Americans] to come and be trained there. That's why he [Blue] started training librarians."

Blue and his staff were requested at out-of-state libraries to assist in establishing Colored branch libraries. The Carnegie Foundation sent trainees from Africa to Louisville (Wright 1955).

Though Thomas Fountain Blue was what would be known today as a public librarian, his Apprentice Program prepared librarians for school, public, and college librarianship (Spradling 1980).

Blue's notoriety grew, he was invited to speak at several conferences including the 1929 American Library Association (ALA) Conference. Blue was the first African American to be placed on an ALA program. He had been invited to speak in recognition of the Louisville Free Public Library's progress in library work among African Americans. Blue and Edward C. Williams, the first African American library school graduate, were the only two African Americans among the 2,808 attending ALA (Work Projects Administration 1944, Wright 1955, Josey & Shockley 1977, Latimer 1994).

Hampton Institute Library School (Virginia) was established in 1925(Wright 1955, Latimer 1994), and around 1931 Blue's Apprentice Program ended; the number of African Americans obtaining library degrees was on the rise(Work Projects Administration, Wright 1955).

Thomas Fountain Blue died in 1935. His Apprentice Program was used as a prototype for professional training programs in colleges and universities (Wright 1955). His efforts had reached far beyond the three room library and his first trainees.

Five years after Blue's death a former Kentucky librarian became the first African American to earned a Ph. D. in librarianship. Eliza Atkins Gleason earned her doctorate from the University of Chicago and went on to become the first Dean of the newly established School of Library Service. This Negro library school opened in 1941 and was located at Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. The new library school was to replace Hampton Institute Library School which had closed in 1938 after 13 short years of existence (Jones 1970, Josey & Shockley 1977).

Virginia Lacy Jones was the second dean of the Atlanta University School of Library Service (1945). She was also the second African American to earn a Ph.D. in librarianship. The degree was received from the University of Chicago in 1945(Josey 1970, Josey & Shockley 1977).

Jones was also a former Kentucky Librarian, she had worked under Gleason as an assistant librarian at the Louisville Municipal College, the Negro branch of the University of Louisville. Jones returned to the Municipal College in 1936 as head librarian. During her tenure at the College, Jones and Ann Rucker Anderson, librarian at Kentucky State College, organized a librarians group(Josey 1970, Spradling 1980). The group was approved as a conference of the Kentucky Negro Education Association (K.N.E.A.) in 1935 (K.N.E.A. Journal¹ 1935).

The conference continued as a part of K.N.E.A. into the 1950's K.N.E.A. changed its name to Kentucky Teachers Association, and eventually merged into the Kentucky Educational Association (KEA). Prior to the merger there had been no African American members in KEA. The Kentucky Library Association (KLA) started to admit African American members in the mid 1940's. But, K.N.E.A. had been the organization for Kentucky's African American educators and librarians (Spradling 1980). The merger/desegregation meant the end of K.N.E.A. and its journal. Written records of Kentucky African American librarians and activities became a rare thing. Times were changing, what could be the benefit of identifying a librarian's race?

A skilled search is required to find information such as the election of Rebecca T. Bingham as the first African American president of KLA (Josey & Shockley 1977), or the 1976 paper by Mary Mace Spradling titled Black Librarians in Kentucky.²

Over the past twenty years the Kentucky African American librarian has been moved off the printed page into the word of mouth; someone knows of the one at institution 'X' or the two at school 'Y', and the word gets passed on. The following tables offer names and individual experiences to accompany the verbal references. Individuals listed in the tables do not speak for all Kentucky African American librarians. Nor do they represent the total number of African American librarians in Kentucky; there are many more.³ A much larger publication is needed in order to account for the total experience of African American librarians in the state of Kentucky.

Bureau of the Census. (1901?). Twelfth census of the United States (p. cxix) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Burns, A., Parrish, L., & Berry, J. (1992). Part rally, part reunion, total triumph. (National Conference of African American Librarians). Library Journal, 117, 41-44.

Buttlar, L., & Caynon, W.(1992). Recruitment of librarians into the profession: the minority perspective. Library and Information Science Research,14, 259-280.

Curry, D. A. (1994). Your worries ain't like mine: African American librarians and the pervasiveness of racism, prejudice and discrimination in academe. Reference Librarian, 45-46, 299-311.

Jaynes, G. C., & Williams, R. M., Jr. (1989). A common destiny: Blacks and American society. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Jones, V. L. (1970). A dean's career. In Josey, E. J. (Ed.), The Black Librarian in America 19-42. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press.

Josey, E. J., & Shockley, A. A. (Eds.). (1977). Handbook of Black librarianship. Colorado: Libraries Unlimited.

Kemp, R. (1994). The secrets of my success: an African American Librarian. Wilson Library Bulletin, 68, 35-37.

Kleber, J. E. (Ed). (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky.

Latimer, C. (1994). Edward Christopher Williams and his impact on librarianship (Masters research paper, Kent State University, 1994). Eric Document No. 376857 (Microfiche).

Lucus, M. B. (1992). A History of Blacks in Kentucky Volume 1: from Slavery to Segregation, 1760 - 1891. Kentucky: Kentucky Historical Society.

McCook, K., & Geist, P. (1993). Diversity deferred: where are the minority librarians? Library Journal,118, 35-38.

Nelson, C. O. (1994). Unity through diversity: a call to work. Library Journal, 119, 38-41.

Spradling, M. M. (1980). Black Librarians in Kentucky. In A. L. Phinazee (Ed.), The Black librarian in the Southeast: reminiscences, activities, challenges (pp. 37-52). Durham, NC: North Carolina Central University.

Work Projects Administration. (1944). Libraries and lotteries: a history of the Louisville Free Public Library. Kentucky: Hobson Book Press.

Wright, L. T. (1955). Thomas Fountain Blue, pioneer librarian, 1866-1935. Published master's thesis, Atlanta University, Georgia.

[?] (1935). Librarians' Conference at 1935 K.N.E.A. K.N.E.A. Journal, 6, 19-20.

¹According to Karen McDaniel, Director of Kentucky State University Libraries, all issues of the K.N.E.A. Journal may be found in the Blazer Library Archives.

²Spradling's paper was presented in 1976 for a colloquium sponsored by the School of Library Science, North Carolina Central University. The paper was published in 1980 in The Black Librarian in the Southeast.

³See Spradling's article for an older, but more extensive listing of Kentucky's African American librarians and library employees.

⁴The 1997 National Conference of African American Librarians is sponsored by the Black Caucus of ALA and will be held July 30th - August 4th in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

⁵Henry Totten was the Associate Dean of the University Of Kentucky College of Library Science from 1971 to 1974.

[Go to Jones, R. F. (in press). Kentucky Negro Education Association (KNEA) Journal: Accounting of Librarians and Libraries. Kentucky Libraries.]