Robert H. Robinson Library

Last updated

Robert H. Robinson Library was one of the earliest libraries for Colored People in the United States, during the Jim Crow laws era. Robert Robinson Library was located at 902 Wythe St., Alexandria, Virginia, and was operated since 1940 by the City of Alexandria.

Contents

History

The library was named in honor of Rev. Robert H. Robinson, an African American minister, educator, and activist. He was the grandson of Caroline Branham, an enslaved women held by George and Martha Washington. [1]

In 1939 sit-in at the new and "whites only" Alexandria, Virginia public library (Kate Waller Barret branch) organized by the lawyer Samuel Wilbert Tucker since the library's budget was collected from the taxes paid by every American citizen. [2] [3]

The original goal of Lawyer Samuel Wilbert Tucker was to allow African Americans to use Virginia's Public Library, but instead of it was built a small and segregated library—Robert Robinson Library. Its construction was completed in 1940 and functioned as the first "separate but equal" library for African Americans in the segregated city.

Librarians and collection

Since the time of its foundation, its staff was formed by professional librarians who graduated from many American universities and the books were served to students of different levels from kindergarten up to university.

Importance

The city's project followed a 1939 sit-in by African Americans and arrests at the whites-only Alexandria Library.

The 1939 event is commonly cited as the first non-violent protest by African Americans against racial segregation.

Current status

Since the libraries were desegregated, Robert H. Robinson Library became part of the Alexandria Black History Museum.

The museum has changing exhibitions on local and national topics related to African Americans. [4]

The museum also operates the Alexandria African American Heritage Park, a 9-acre (3.6 ha) park at 500 Holland Lane, which contains a 1-acre (0.40 ha) nineteenth-century African-American cemetery that was buried under a city landfill in the 1960s. [5]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil rights movement</span> 1954–1968 U.S. nonviolent social movement

The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United States. The movement had its origins in the Reconstruction era during the late 19th century, although it made its largest legislative gains in the 1960s after years of direct actions and grassroots protests. The social movement's major nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience campaigns eventually secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince William County, Virginia</span> County in Virginia, United States

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinloch, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Kinloch is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 298 as of the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sit-in</span> Form of direct action

A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to move unless their demands are met. The often clearly visible demonstrations are intended to spread awareness among the public, or disrupt the goings-on of the protested organisation. Lunch counter sit-ins were a nonviolent form of protest used to oppose segregation during the civil rights movement, and often provoked heckling and violence from those opposed to their message.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. J. Jemison</span> American clergyman and civil rights activist

Theodore Judson Jemison, better known as T. J. Jemison, was the president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. from 1982 to 1994. It is the largest African-American religious organization. He oversaw the construction of the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the headquarters of his convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Washington, D.C.</span> History of the US capital

The history of Washington, D.C., is tied to its role as the capital of the United States. The site of the District of Columbia along the Potomac River was first selected by President George Washington. The city came under attack during the War of 1812 in an episode known as the Burning of Washington. Upon the government's return to the capital, it had to manage the reconstruction of numerous public buildings, including the White House and the United States Capitol. The McMillan Plan of 1901 helped restore and beautify the downtown core area, including establishing the National Mall, along with numerous monuments and museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro sit-ins</span> 1960 non-violent protests in the United States

The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store—now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum—in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolworth Company department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. While not the first sit-in of the civil rights movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the best-known sit-ins of the civil rights movement. They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sit-in movement, in which 70,000 people participated. This sit-in was a contributing factor in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Ward</span> United States historic place

Jackson Ward, previously known as Central Wards, is a historically African-American district in Richmond, Virginia, with a long tradition of African-American businesses. It is located less than a mile from the Virginia State Capitol, sitting to the west of Court End and north of Broad Street. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 1978. "Jackson Ward" was originally the name of the area's political district within the city, or ward, from 1871 to 1905, yet has remained in use long after losing its original meaning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racial segregation in the United States</span>

Facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation have been systematically separated in the United States on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally or socially enforced separation of African Americans from whites, but it is also used in reference to the separation of other ethnic minorities from majority and mainstream communities. While mainly referring to the physical separation and provision of separate facilities, it can also refer to other manifestations such as prohibitions against interracial marriage, and the separation of roles within an institution. Notably, in the United States Armed Forces up until 1948, black units were typically separated from white units but were still led by white officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria Library (Virginia)</span> Public library system of Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria Library is the public library in Alexandria, Virginia in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria, Virginia</span> Independent city in Virginia, United States

Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately 7 miles (11 km) south of downtown Washington, D.C. Alexandria is the third-largest "principal city" of the Washington metropolitan area which is part of the larger Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Wilbert Tucker</span> American lawyer and civil rights activist (1913–1990)

Samuel Wilbert Tucker was an American lawyer and a cooperating attorney with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His civil rights career began as he organized a 1939 sit-in at the then-segregated Alexandria, Virginia public library. A partner in the Richmond, Virginia, firm of Hill, Tucker and Marsh, Tucker argued and won several civil rights cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, including Green v. County School Board of New Kent County which, according to The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights In America, "did more to advance school integration than any other Supreme Court decision since Brown."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Alexandria, Virginia</span>

The history of Alexandria, Virginia, begins with the first European settlement in 1695. Over the next century, the town became a significant port. In 1801, much of Alexandria was swept into the new District of Columbia; it was damaged along with much of the rest of the capital during the War of 1812. In 1846, Alexandria was returned to Virginia, along with the rest of the District's territory on the western side of the Potomac River. After Virginia seceded in 1861, Alexandria was swiftly captured by Union forces and held for the remainder of the American Civil War. In the late 20th century, Alexandria became a key part of the rapidly growing Northern Virginia region.

Alexandria, Virginia, an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is located along the western bank of the Potomac River. The city of approximately 151,000 is about six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sit-in movement</span> American 1960s civil rights campaign

The sit-in movement, sit-in campaign or student sit-in movement, were a wave of sit-ins that followed the Greensboro sit-ins on February 1, 1960 in North Carolina. The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.

The Alexandria Black History Museum, located at 902 Wythe St., Alexandria, Virginia, is operated by the City of Alexandria. The building was formerly the Robert Robinson Library, originally constructed in 1940 as the first "separate but equal" library for African Americans in the segregated city.

Prior to the civil rights movement in South Carolina, African Americans in the state had very few political rights. South Carolina briefly had a majority-black government during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, but with the 1876 inauguration of Governor Wade Hampton III, a Democrat who supported the disenfranchisement of blacks, African Americans in South Carolina struggled to exercise their rights. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation kept African Americans from voting, and it was virtually impossible for someone to challenge the Democratic Party, which ran unopposed in most state elections for decades. By 1940, the voter registration provisions written into the 1895 constitution effectively limited African-American voters to 3,000—only 0.8 percent of those of voting age in the state.

The New Year's Day March in Greenville, South Carolina was a 1,000-man march that protested the segregated facilities at the Greenville Municipal Airport, now renamed the Greenville Downtown Airport. The march occurred after Richard Henry and Jackie Robinson were prohibited from using a white-only waiting room at the airport. The march was the first large-scale movement of the civil rights movement in South Carolina and Greenville. The march brought state-wide attention to segregation, and the case Henry v. Greenville Airport Commission (1961) ultimately required the airport's integration of its facilities.

The Alexandria Library sit-in was one of the first staged sit-in actions in the United States, pioneering the use of nonviolent direct action to demand equal rights for African Americans. On August 21, 1939, five Black men sat down inside the Alexandria Public Library and quietly read books, a transgression of the library's "whites only" policy. Their actions were coordinated by Alexandria attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker, who planned the action to create a test case challenging the library's racial segregation policy. The men were escorted out of the library by police and charged with disorderly conduct. A ruling was not filed in their court case; in October 2019, all charges against the men were dismissed. The Alexandria sit-in is one of the earliest precursors in the U.S. of the strategies used during the civil rights movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert H. Robinson</span>

Robert H. Robinson (1824–1909) was a minister and an activist for the rights of African Americans during the Antebellum period in Arlington, Virginia. He was born into slavery, but through the negotiation by his grandmother, Caroline Branham, he was freed at age 21 after an eleven-year apprenticeship. He was a minister at Roberts Chapel, an African Methodist Episcopal Church. He established a night school and debate team for black freedman. The Robert H. Robinson Library was named in his honor.

References

  1. "Caroline Branham". Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial. National Park Service. January 21, 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  2. "America's First Sit-Down Strike: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In". City of Alexandria. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  3. "1939 Alexandria Library Sit-in". City of Alexandria. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
  4. City of Alexandria, VA (2017). "Past Exhibitions at the Alexandria Black History Museum" . Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  5. Anderson, Adrian A.; Westover, Allan (1992). "THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE PARK, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA" (PDF). Tellus Consultants. Retrieved February 14, 2018.

38°48′43″N77°02′53″W / 38.81206°N 77.04803°W / 38.81206; -77.04803