Learning from a 1939 Library Protest

As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Americans are grappling with how to honestly examine our country’s history and make sense of how it applies to the world today. The story of the Alexandria, Virginia library sit-in of 1939, the first recorded sit-in to demand racial integration, offers a fresh chance to explore our past. Thanks to new grant funding, efforts are underway to build online exhibits, digitize materials, and engage communities to talk about this little-known story. 

How do these efforts enrich our understanding of the evolution of the United States’s civil rights movement? What can they reveal about how demonstrations and legal efforts have shaped access to opportunity? Join us for a conversation with librarians, teachers, museum curators, and scholars of public history who are using new approaches to amplify this American story and recognize the persistent drive for equal access to education that continues to this day.

For more information on this exciting project, please visit the 1939 Library Sit-In Project page.