A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965.

By Patterson Toby Graham. (Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, c. 2002. Pp. [xvi], 191. $34.95, ISBN 0-8173-1144-0.)

While southern historians have devoted much attention to regional military and political history, important cultural institutions have been less adequately explored. Patterson Toby Graham's pathbreaking book on segregation in twentieth-century Alabama public libraries is an important step toward correcting this neglect.

In his first chapter, Graham describes the first public library branches for blacks established in the state--in Birmingham in 1918 and Mobile in 1931--and situates them in the context of the late-developing southern public library movement. Chapter 2 focuses on the era of the Great Depression, when outside sources of financing and leadership spurred increased public library development in the state. Despite violence and political instability in coalmining Walker County, local clubwomen spearheaded an effort to meet Rosenwald Fund requirements and successfully secured a library program with an annual budget of $25,000. By 1934, book circulation among the county's African Americans surpassed that among whites. Graham describes similar cooperation between local leaders and New Deal agencies such as the Works Progress Administration that produced new public libraries for whites and blacks in several other places in Alabama.

Although New Deal and philanthropic support became scarce during the 1940s, local African American community groups expanded their efforts to establish public libraries. In Huntsville a branch library for blacks was established through the efforts of Dulcina DeBerry during the early 1940s. Several groups worked to secure Montgomery's first black public library in 1948. After the passage of a 1953 state bond issue for libraries, Birmingham's Negro Advisory Committee initially sought integrated facilities but settled for a share of the funds to build new black libraries in 1956 and 1957. By 1960, however, the burgeoning civil rights movement had shifted the focus from seeking black libraries to an all-out assault on segregation. Graham presents detailed case studies of library integration in 1961 (Mobile), 1962 (Montgomery and Huntsville), and 1963 (Birmingham, Selma, and Anniston). Whether through private persuasion, threatened or actual demonstrations, or court orders, library integration generally occurred peacefully--except in Anniston, where two black ministers were attacked by a white mob at the town's Carnegie public library.

In his final chapter, Graham focuses on librarians' stories of commitment, dedication, courage, and even tragedy. The actions of the American and Alabama Library Associations before 1963, however, were less edifying. Most of Alabama's major public libraries had already integrated before the national association condemned local library segregation or before the state group stopped practicing it.

Although Graham's book is based on extensive research and interviews, better editing might have improved some of its weaknesses. The introductory and concluding summaries of each chapter are too repetitive, the bibliographic essay seems disproportionately lengthy (21 pages for 137 pages of text), and the division of chapters into subsections sometimes weakens the book's narrative flow. Furthermore, Graham's use of black newspapers is too limited, and he ignores cities from Dothan to Tuscaloosa. Finally, some may question his view of segregation as a Progressive "reform" that did not contradict movement ideals. Despite these flaws, however, A Right to Read presents a wealth of important new information and could be useful in graduate history courses.

ROBERT G. SHERER

Tulane University