Rosa Parks Branch Library - Montgomery, AL
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 32° 21.543 W 086° 19.011
16S E 564275 N 3580439
This marker tells the history of the Rosa Parks Branch Library and its importance in the life of the black community.
Waymark Code: WMF70G
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2012
Views: 9
On August 30, 2012, a ceremony was held at the corner of Rosa L. Parks Avenue and Early Street. The occasion was the unveiling of a marker honoring Bertha Pleasant Williams, Montgomery's first black librarian who served the community for several decades, and the role of the Rosa Parks Avenue Branch Library. The marker is outside the library branch she opened as its first Head Librarian. The story of the branch can be seen in the text of the marker:
Rosa Parks Branch Library
Second public library for blacks in City of Montgomery, this building opened in 1960 as Montgomery Branch Library on Cleveland Avenue. Designed by architect James Miller Davis, it served the black population at a time the main facility on High Street prohibited their patronage. Planned to contain 15,000 volumes, this structure has meeting rooms and areas for adults, teen-agers and children. Judge frank Johnson ordered desegregation of Montgomery libraries in 1962. The first public library for blacks opened in 1948 in two rooms of the Community House of City federation of Negro Women's Clubs on South Union street. Librarian Bertha Williams, the first black employee of the city library system, led that branch for its twelve years of operation and became head librarian of this one upon its opening. Change of name to Rosa Parks Branch came with re-naming of Cleveland Avenue for heroine of Bus Boycott.
Sponsored by
The fortitude Foundation - Montgomery Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Alabama Historical Association
2012
Marker Name: Rosa Parks Branch Library
Marker Type: Urban
Addtional Information::
In 2012, the City Council voted to name the facility the Bertha Pleasant Williams Library at the Rosa Parks Avenue Branch
Date Dedicated / Placed: 2012
Marker Number: Not Listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Alabama history please include that in your log.