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Full-Text Articles in African American Studies
A Separate Space: Remembering Meridian’S Segregated Carnegie Library, 1913-74, Matthew R. Griffis
A Separate Space: Remembering Meridian’S Segregated Carnegie Library, 1913-74, Matthew R. Griffis
Publications and Other Resources
This article explores the largely undocumented history of Meridian, Mississippi’s 13th Street library, a segregated branch library constructed in 1912-13 with funds from Carnegie’s famous library program. Although the library no longer stands, it remains an important connection between libraries in Mississippi and the history of race relations. Using archival sources as well as oral history interviews with some of the library’s former users, the article considers the library’s importance as an early symbol of civic autonomy for Meridian’s African Americans and how it became a valued educational support center and community space. The article closes with a call …
Oral History With Karen Edwards-Hunter, Matthew R. Griffis
Oral History With Karen Edwards-Hunter, Matthew R. Griffis
Oral History Archive
Karen Edwards-Hunter was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950 and has lived most of her life there. Her father was a mail carrier and her mother, who was originally a homemaker, was later a Teacher’s Assistant at Perry Elementary School. Edwards-Hunter grew up on 15th Street in the city’s Russell neighborhood and attended Perry Elementary School and Harvey C. Russell Junior High School when both were still segregated. She later attended Louisville Male High School before earning a B.A. in English at Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Louisville. She completed further studies at Bard College in New …
Oral History With Houston A. Baker, Matthew R. Griffis
Oral History With Houston A. Baker, Matthew R. Griffis
Oral History Archive
Born in March of 1943, Houston Alfred Baker Jr. grew up in segregated Louisville. His mother was a schoolteacher; his father served as chief administrator of the city’s African-American hospital, the Red Cross Hospital, and had earned a master’s degree in hospital administration from Northwestern University on a Rockefeller fellowship. When Baker was a child, his family lived on Virginia Avenue, where Baker attended Virginia Avenue Elementary School. After his family moved to Broadway Street, Baker attended Western Elementary, later Western Junior High School, and then Male High School before leaving for Howard University in 1961. The family attended Grace …