Page 24 - BCALA Winter 2018

24 | BCALA NEWS | Volume 45, Issue 1 Baton Rouge Parish for financial
aid, loans, and gifts of magazines or books. This dispatch is proof that in spite of being locked out of mainstream Baton Rouge, African Americans still sought ways to sustain themselves. In 1920, 23,098 African Americans lived in Baton Rouge, 51.9% of the total population.
In 1900, Baton Rouge’s white population was 8,055. By 1930, Baton Rouge’s white population had risen to 38,784, a 20.7% increase; consequently, this meant the library also experienced at least a 20.7% influx of patrons as well. This
influx proved to be a bit much for
a makeshift library/fire company and by 1928, the UDC Library had moved twice in response to a need for more space; as a result, librarian Mae Barrow, lobbied the parish
for a legitimate public library.
On Monday, November 9, 1936,
a representative group from 28
civic clubs met with city and parish officials to obtain a public library through federal aid. In just three years (Thursday, September 14, 1939) the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library opened at 700 Laurel Street three blocks from the original UDC Library (although the library faced Laurel St. it was on the corner of 7th St. and Laurel St.), again for “Whites Only.” Since East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library would serve more than just Baton Rouge, plans were conceived, immediately, to build more branches. On
Saturday, December 19, 1942, the eighth Branch (Carver) opened,
for African American patrons, above the Eagle Drug Store at 1265 Government Street, on the corner of Government Street and 13th Street (13th St. has been renamed Eddie Robinson Blvd). This new library was four and a half blocks from the library room at Old Fellow Masonic Temple on North Blvd. The Carver Branch was to provide library service for the entire African American community, nearly 33,597 people. In 2000, the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library System was composed of one main library and 12 branches which were headed by ten administrators. At least one library was located in each historically or predominately African American neighborhood.
By the end of the first half of the twentieth century, Baton Rouge, like other cities in southern regions of America, was predictably
racist. To presume that the white community in Baton Rouge deviated from America’s southern culture, when other southern cities embraced the philosophy of white supremacy, would be inaccurate; on the other hand, it would be logical to assume that Baton Rouge was a typical southern town, especially if one examines the 1953 Bus Boycott staged by the Black community at large and the 1960 sit in staged by SU students. The boycott and the sit-ins were forms of non-violent disobedient protest aimed at the
white power structure of Baton Rouge for violating the Civil Rights of African Americans and for denying them political and social equality which whites vowed to forever prevent.
East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library System has since been integrated but the road trotted by African American librarians has indeed been stony. In 2000, East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library System was directed by ten administrators; of which, one (Felicia West) was an African American. Likewise, there were 30 professional librarians and seven were African Americans. This segment of the report will be an introduction to the lone administrator Felicia West and two (Elva Jewel Carter & Geralyn Legard Davis) of the seven African American librarians. These two were chosen due to their achievements, hard work, and reputations; also, due to the coordinating efforts and vision of Mrs. Felicia West.
Felicia West graduated from Capital High School (of Baton Rouge) in 1972. She attended
SU and in 1976, she received a bachelor’s of science in secondary math education. From 1974-77, West worked as a page in the East Baton Parish Public Library System. During her sophomore year, she yielded to an enjoyment for librarian work. In 1978, West enrolled in LSU’s library school