Alexandria Library Sit-In (Heritage Trail Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Alexandria Library Sit-In
Alexandria Heritage Trail
— City of Alexandria, est. 1749 —

On August 21, 1939, five young African-American men, William Evans, Edward Gaddis, Morris Murray, Clarence Strange and Otto Tucker entered the Barrett Library, then a whites-only segregated, public facility. When they requested library cards and were refused, each selected a book, sat down, and began to read. Despite their polite demeanor, the police were summoned, arrested the men, and charged them with disorderly conduct. Samuel W. Tucker, a local attorney and civil rights advocate, and chief organizer of the protest, represented the men in court. They hoped the sit-in would challenge the Library's policy and lead to equal access for Alexandria's African American residents. However, the City delayed the case and no ruling was ever issued. In 1940, Alexandria built a separate facility, the Robert H. Robinson Library, for African Americans. Seen by many as a positive outcome, it was not the equality that Tucker sought. The Robinson Library now houses Alexandria's Black History Museum. In 1959, a new era commenced when the library system took steps to desegregate.

[Captions:]
Picture of the new Barrett Library taken in the late 1930s. The building has been expanded over the years.

Interior of the Barrett Library taken in the 1940s.

The protesters being escorted from the library by police.

Samuel W. tucker (1913-1990) Attorney Tucker spent a long career battling for equal access across the Commonwealth. He served as an infantry officer in the Second World War and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The new Robert H. Robinson Library not long after its opening in April 1940. The new library for AFrican American residents was opened just seven months after the sit-in.

Erected by City of Alexandria, Virginia.


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Here follows a news article written by Neal Augenstein for WTOP News:

85 years ago today: Alexandria Library sit-in sought seat at table for all readers
August 21, 2024, 2:21 PM

Exactly 85 years after five Black men were arrested at a Northern Virginia library during a civil rights protest, the Alexandria Library unveiled a new traveling exhibition, detailing the events, participants and legacy of the 1939 sit-in.

“It’s all about access,” said Rose Dawson, director of the library, after children at Samuel Tucker Elementary School heard the story about their school’s namesake during an assembly in the school gym.

Tucker was a 26-year-old Black attorney during the summer of 1939, when he organized an act of peaceful civil disobedience to gain access to what was then known as the Alexandria Library. Now called the Barrett Branch Library, it was the only library building in the city, which had a population of 33,000. But the library was “whites only” — African Americans were not allowed to use it.

“On Aug. 21, 1939, William Evans, Otto Tucker — who was Sam’s brother — Edward Gaddis, Morris Murray and Clarence Strange, individually go into the public library and ask for a card. They’re well-dressed, they’re well-spoken, and as they expect, they’re told, ‘no,'” Dawson said.

“They individually go to the shelves, take down a book, and sit at a table,” silently reading, Dawson said. “This happens five times.”

As flustered library staff called police, Robert Strange (whose older brother was one of the protesters) ran to Tucker’s nearby law office. Tucker arrived at the library and brought a photographer.

“An iconic photograph is taken of the gentlemen leaving the library, under arrest,” Dawson said.

Initially, the five men were charged with trespassing.

In court, Tucker challenged the trespassing charge.

“He says how can they be arrested for trespassing when it’s a public facility,” Dawson said. “The charges are then changed to disorderly conduct.”

When the arresting officer testified he arrested the men because they were Black, the city’s attorneys stalled.

Tucker became ill and was unable to continue defending the men. Instead, other Black leaders negotiated with the city, and agreed to have a separate but equal library built.

“Tucker is not happy with the agreement because he wanted to integrate the library,” Dawson said.

The Alexandria Library Board quickly approved the construction of the Robert H. Robinson Library, appropriated funding for books, and hired a Black librarian.

“Tucker received a letter from Katherine Scoggin, who is the librarian at the time, saying that he’s free to use the Robinson library,” Dawson said.

In a letter of reply, which is part of the new traveling display, Tucker said: “I refuse and will always refuse to accept a card to be used at the (Robinson) library, in lieu of a card to be used at the existing library for which I have made application.”

After public pressure, Alexandria Public Libraries were officially integrated in 1959.

Dawson became the city’s library director in 2004, and she began researching the largely unreported 1939 sit-in.

Dawson said she and the library board apologized during the 75th anniversary of the sit-in.

“We acknowledged what took place and apologized for our role. In 2019, the library was successful in getting the commonwealth’s attorney to have the charges dismissed against the gentlemen,” Dawson said.

Mayor Justin Wilson and Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter gave the dismissal of the charges to descendants of the men who were arrested on the 80th anniversary of the sit-in, Dawson said.

Access to public libraries “is critical when it comes for success for children,” Dawson added. Job hunters without access to computers are reliant on public libraries.

In July 2021, the city library system stopped charging fines for overdue books.

“Library fines were a barrier for some families. A child can get a library card and not have to worry about paying a fine,” Dawson said.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website about the library sit-in as written by Daniel Newcomer and Kalen Martin-Gross:

Introduction:
In August 1939, attorney Samuel W. Tucker orchestrated what appears to be the earliest organized civil rights sit-in at this library. At that time, Alexandria was a city of 33,000 and had only one public library. Although local Black residents vote and paid their taxes (some of which went to financing the library after it had been built), they were denied entry to the white-only library. Attorney Samuel W. Tucker was 26 in the summer of 1939, and to protest the library's white-only policy, he prepared a select group of men for an act of civil disobedience. On Friday, August 21, 1939, Tucker's group entered the public library despite the library's policy of only serving white patrons. They were denied service and told to leave, but they sat down and read until the police arrived and arrested the men for trespassing. The situation was virtually ignored by most newspapers at the time, and Samuel Tucker continued fighting against segregation and intolerance thereafter, becoming a prominent voice in the Civil Rights era. He later served as the lead lawyer for the NAACP and argued several cases before the the Supreme Court.

Backstory and Context:
In the 1930s, segregation reigned in Alexandria and throughout the South and beyond. In addition to schools, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation, many libraries barred Black residents from entering the building-effectively barring millions from access to books in an era when most Americans depended on libraries for reading material. Samuel Wilbert Tucker, an Alexandria native, organized a movement to challenge this exclusion. As Alexandria's only high school was an all-white school, Tucker had attended and graduated from a high school in Washington D.C. At the age of 20, he graduated from Howard University and passed Virginia's bar exam.

In March 1939, Tucker was not allowed entry to the Alexandria Library (another white-only establishment). Tucker took the case to court and discovered that the city's solution was to built an all-Black library, which Tucker knew from experience would not offer the same access to services and information. In response to this injustice, Tucker worked with others in Alexandria's Black community and organized a group of young men who were willing to challenge the city's policy of segregation, even if it meant that they would be arrested.

On the day of the protest, August 21, 1939, only five men arrived: Otto Tucker, 22; William “Buddy” Evans, 19; Edward Gaddis, 21; Morris L. Murray, 22; and Clarence “Buck” Strange, 21. One by one, these men entered the library and asked to register for a library card. When refused, the protester picked up a book, took a seat, and read quietly. Five men at five different tables read their books without causing a stir. Each of the men had prepared for the event. Knowing that they might be photographed and arrested, each wore their best clothing and resolved to act politely in the face of insults.

The library staff called the police (Tucker, as planned, was waiting for the police's arrival) and the police soon arrived and arrested the five men for disorderly conduct (as the men's politeness had an impact and the police had difficulties finding grounds for a conviction). Samuel Tucker had a photographer waiting outside to take a photo, and he quickly arranged for the men's release from custody.

The charges were never dismissed, nor were they ever brought back to court. The case essentially disappeared from the record without ever reaching a formal resolution. The story was largely ignored outside of Black communities. The Alexandria Library Board, in response, promised to build the Blacks-only Robert H. Robinson Library and hire an African American librarian. Tucker wrote a passionate letter in response. "I refuse and will always refuse to accept a card to be used at the library to be constructed and operated at Alfred and Wythe Streets," he wrote, "in lieu of [a] card to be used at the existing library on Queen Street for which I have made application."

Tucker went on to become a leading civil rights attorney on behalf of the NAACP, winning many cases against segregated schools during the 1960s, including the infamous case in Prince Edward County where school officials closed all public schools in order to avoid the court's order to desegregate.