“Could My Dark Hands Break through the Dark Shadow?”: Gender, Jim Crow, and Librarianship during the Long Freedom Struggle, 1935–1955

Poole, Alex H.

doi:10.1086/699269

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The article from Alex H. Poole (2018) titled "Could My Dark Hands Break Through the Dark Shadow? : Gender, Jim Crow, and Librarianship during the Long Freedom Struggle, 1935-1955" is a valuable addition to the library literature with its historical review of Southern African American female librarians during the long civil rights movement (the 1930s through 1960s).…”

Section: Narrative Histories Of Pioneersmentioning

confidence: 99%

African American Librarians: A Survey Conducted between 2019 and 2020 in the United States

Spence¹,

Bayramli²

2023

The Library Quarterly

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The library profession in the United States faces many challenges in keeping up with diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts. African Americans who are entering the library profession contribute to these efforts. This article presents the analysis of a survey of African American librarians in the United States conducted on October 23, 2019, and closed on February 1, 2020. It looks at the African American librarian's journey to the library profession. Survey takers were asked to describe their achievements in librarianship, how they entered the profession, future goals, and challenges. Analysis of survey responses is presented along with a brief literature review, followed by some suggestions for further research. The authors hope to increase the conversation on this topic and contribute to diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts.

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Section: Narrative Histories Of Pioneersmentioning

confidence: 99%

African American Librarians: A Survey Conducted between 2019 and 2020 in the United States

Spence¹,

Bayramli²

2023

The Library Quarterly

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“…Librarianship historically either offered separate but unequal or peremptorily refused service to African Americans, concomitantly marginalizing Black librarians (Cresswell, 1996; Du Mont, 1986; Fultz, 2006; Hanbury, 2019; Jackson et al, 2012; Josey, 1994; Josey & Shockley, 1977; Knott, 2016; Knowlton, 2018; Mehra & Gray, 2020; Ndumu & Chancellor, 2021; Poole, 2018; Tucker, 1998; Wiegand & Wiegand, 2018).…”

Section: Race and Librarianship In The United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Get Our Feet Wet and Hands Dirty”: Black Community‐Based Librarianship and the Fight Against Information Poverty, 1940‐1975

Poole

2023

Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Tech

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Focusing on information services to marginalized urban communities in the United States between 1940 and 1975, this paper argues that African American librarians played foundational roles in early community‐based librarianship (CBL) initiatives. In doing so, Black librarians skillfully and resourcefully fought information poverty, pushed for social and political equality, and promoted their communities’ well‐being through proactive information provision. By fighting the systemic racism throttling inner‐city Black communities, their labors constituted a seminal contribution to the post‐World War II United States Freedom Struggle. Theirs was a specifically Black CBL. Underpinned by the theoretical work of Elfreda Chatman, this heretofore hidden history offers fruitful lessons for current library and information science practice. It therefore aligns with the annual meeting theme, “Translating Information Research into Practice, Policy, and Action,” particularly its emphasis on “creating effective models of information provision, creating empathetic information services” and on “understanding the power of information to develop human happiness, equality, and wellbeing.”

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“…Historically, Black women faced uniquely imbricated burdens stemming especially if not exclusively from race, gender, and class (Branch, 2011;Collins, 1993Collins, , 2000Collins, , 2015Davis, 1983;Gaines, 1997;Giddings, 1984;Graham, 2007;Higginbotham, 1996;Hine, 1986;Jones, 1998;King, 1988;Poole, 2018;Poster et al, 2016b;Wingfield, 2019). Yet Black women resisted oppression and demoralization; they carved out spaces of influence in institutions that permitted Black women nominal agency (Brown, 2008;Collins, 2000;Greene, 2005;Higginbotham, 1993;Hine, 1989;hooks, 1981;Shaw, 2010).…”

Section: Critical Race Theory (Crt)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersectional Information Work Practices: Surfacing Care amidst COVID‐19

Poole

Alex

2022

Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Tech

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This paper brings together and enriches the heretofore dispersed literature on information work and information practices. It does so under the auspices of Critical Race Theory (CRT), intersectionality, and care work. Using the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States as the context for an exploratory, qualitative case study, we propose the concept of intersectional information work practices (IIWP) to denote the cluster of information‐centric tasks in which Black women carers engaged. Seeking, scanning, searching, monitoring, finding, receiving, retrieving, using, and sharing information—Black women carers performed each of these IIWPs in dealing with health care providers, tests, illness and treatment, wellness, logistics, and avoiding misinformation. An IIWP lens sheds light on the too often invisible labor of Black women carers. Such a lens also brings into high relief the importance of scrutinizing power and (in)equity, race, gender, and class in exploring foundational Information Science concepts.

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“Could My Dark Hands Break through the Dark Shadow?”: Gender, Jim Crow, and Librarianship during the Long Freedom Struggle, 1935–1955

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

African American Librarians: A Survey Conducted between 2019 and 2020 in the United States

African American Librarians: A Survey Conducted between 2019 and 2020 in the United States

“Get Our Feet Wet and Hands Dirty”: Black Community‐Based Librarianship and the Fight Against Information Poverty, 1940‐1975

Intersectional Information Work Practices: Surfacing Care amidst COVID‐19

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