The WC Handy Negro Library

Subject

Community

Description

A series of Florence Herald and Florence Times articles reporting on the open house of the WC Handy Library on Monday night, March 22, 1948. Originally simply the Florence Negro Library, the facility, a branch library of the Muscle Shoals Regional Library System, was located in the parsonage of the Tennessee Valley Community Church (originally the parsonage of the old First Congregational Church) at 113 N Pine St. and situated between the two-story, red-brick Lauderdale County Jail and Tennessee Valley Community Church. Intended to serve the Black community of Florence-Lauderdale the library would also serve the Black community of Colbert County until the Negro library in Sheffield was completed.

The board members for the new library were, Dr. Leonard Jerry Hicks, MD, who served as chairman, Prof. WH Lewis of Burrell High School, and Mrs. Eva Simpson. Mrs. Josephine Kimber served as librarian, working under the direction of regional librarian Miss Catherine Green . One thousand volumes were initially available for check-out. The Regional Library System would supply the books, professional services and the librarian in charge. The Florence Times noted on March 19, 1948 that "the people of Florence have supplied the building, its furnishings, and will supply the maintenance."

At the Monday night, March 22, 1948 open house, over 100 guests, including board members of the Regional and Negro branch boards, attended the open house between 7 and 9 pm. Refreshments were served by the Women's Council of Florence and the Y-Teens of Burrell High School.

In April of 1948 a contest was sponsored by the board of directors of the new library, with Florence-Lauderdale Public Library board member AL Thomlinson offering a $10 cash reward to the African-American student who could write the best essay on naming the library; the contest resulted in a tie between Burrell students Wesley Carr Lewis, who wrote his essay on WC Handy, and Bettie Jo Cherry, who selected Prof. George N. White. Florence Times editor Louis Eckl was asked to break the tie, and Eckl selected Lewis' essay as the winner, thus the Negro branch of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library was named after WC Handy.

According to local historian Alvin Rosenbaum, on p. xviii of the introduction to his book "The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States," his father Stanley, a Florence State English professor and chairman of the Southern Regional Council's Alabama Council on Human Relations for the Muscle Shoals Area, was also the treasurer of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Board in the 1940s and 1950s. Rosenbaum writes:

"The Negro library [WC Handy Library], part of the library system, was at the corner of Mobile and Pine Streets, a small building with a tin roof next to the red-brick Lauderdale County Jail. In the 1950s, the part-time librarian submitted an estimate for a new roof (the books were getting wet from the rain), which was more than the building was worth, according to Stanley. With board approval he directed the Negro library be closed, the books to be transferred to the main library facility [on North Wood Avenue], and the water fountain to be shut off and the restrooms locked (to meet Alabama's Jim Crow laws). The facility was integrated without public comment or incident (and was perhaps the first *public* facility in Alabama to integrate, c. 1956)."

Actually, the integration of the library occurred in November of 1952. We can say say this because copies of the Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board Minutes, October, 1947 - May, 1958 were recently discovered and specifically reference the integration.

At a Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board meeting held at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library on September 26, 1952:

"Mr. [Harold] May [editor of the Florence Herald and a member of Jewish Temple B'Nai Israel] made a motion that as of November 1, 1952, the W. C. Handy Library be discontinued, that the Negro population of Florence be allowed to borrow books from the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, and that the Handy Library Board be notified of this action immediately, since the attendance and circulation of the Handy Library does not seem to warrant the expense of keeping it open. Mr. Rosenbaum seconded the motion, and it passed."

At an earlier meeting of the Regional Board on January 18, 1952, "the problem of the Handy Library was brought up" by board member Stanley Rosenbaum. It was noted that "the circulation reports from this library have been extremely low" and that the WC Handy Library Board currently owed three years' rent on the building. Could the "problem" of the Handy Library include a leaky roof? Regardless, at a board meeting of February 6, 1953:

"It was reported that a number of Negro readers have started using the Florence Library since the Handy Library was closed. When reference work had to be done they were allowed to use the county room. It was decided to continue this policy in regard to their reading in the library, and to regulate their use of periodicals to those magazines which can be checked out of the library, inasmuch as the library is supported by public funds and cannot afford too much criticism."

So far no newspaper reports of the library's integration have been found.

The three photos of individuals are of WC Handy Library Board members Dr. Leonard J. Hicks, Mrs. Eva Simpson, and Prof. WH Lewis.

Creator

Florence Herald and Florence Times
Alvin Rosenbaum
Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board
Baldwin Directory Company
Sanborn Fire insurance Company
Coffee High School

Source

Florence Herald
Florence Times
Florence Times
Florence Times
Florence Herald
Florence Herald
Florence Herald
Florence Herald
The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States
Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board Minutes
Baldwin's Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals Area Alabama City Directory, 1948
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
1965 Coffee High School Coffeepot Yearbook.

Publisher

Newspapers.com
Bell & Howell Miro Photo Division
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library
Whitman Publishing, LLC
Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board
Baldwin Directory Company, Inc.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Contributor

Lee Freeman

Rights

Images are available for educational and research purposes. This image may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without the express written consent of the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of the interested party to identify the copyright holder and receive permission.

Format

Jpeg

Language

English

Type

still image

Files

Collection

Community

Citation

Florence Herald and Florence Times Alvin Rosenbaum Muscle Shoals Regional Library Board Baldwin Directory Company Sanborn Fire insurance Company Coffee High School, “The WC Handy Negro Library,” Shoals Black History, accessed December 15, 2025, https://shoalsblackhistory.omeka.net/items/show/1039.