Fifty-five years ago, Black librarians came together to establish an organization that would change librarianship and the American Library Association (ALA).
Established in 1970, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) advocates for the development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources to the nation’s African American community and provides leadership for the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians. It was the culmination of decades of conversations and work.
As far back as the 1930s, Black librarians would gather in hotel rooms at ALA conferences to discuss the injustices they experienced at work and the lack of leadership opportunities for them. At the suggestion of children’s librarian, educator, and activist Effie Lee Morris, Black librarians met at ALA’s 1968 Annual Conference to discuss their concerns about not having a voice in the Association. At a meeting the following year, the Black Caucus was formed to address these concerns, and in 1970 BCALA was founded by Morris, activist, librarian, and author E.J. Josey, Thomas E. Alford Sr., and others, with Josey being elected its first chairperson.
“BCALA was formed in 1970, and even though there was integration, there weren’t opportunities for leadership within the profession for Black librarians, who were still also dealing with discrimination in the workplace,” says Renate L. Chancellor, associate professor and associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at Syracuse University School of Information Studies, and author of “E. J. Josey: Transformational Leader of the Modern Library Profession.” “[Josey’s] idea, along with the other founders, was to form an organization that can grow the leadership of Black librarians. That was important.”
Among the goals of BCALA are to:
- Call to the attention of ALA the need to respond positively on behalf of Black members of the Association.
- Serve as a clearinghouse for Black librarians in promoting wider participation by Black librarians at all levels of the profession and ALA.
- Support and promote efforts to achieve meaningful communication and equitable representation in state library associations and on the governing and advisory boards of libraries at the state and local levels.
- Facilitate library service which will meet the information needs of Black people.
- Encourage the development of authoritative information resources about Black people and the dissemination of this information to the larger community.
In 1992, BCALA became formally affiliated with ALA. One of its most significant endeavors is scholarships named after Josey and Morris that offer financial assistance to African Americans to pursue a graduate-level library and information science degree. BCALA is also the sponsor of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, the coveted award recognizes outstanding books by African American authors and illustrators and encourages the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts.
“BCALA … has been nothing short of a family for those who have had the privilege to call themselves members,” Victor Simmons, Auburn Avenue Research Library Administrator at Fulton County (Ga.) Library System, told American Libraries. “In a country as large as the United States—and for a people who make up a relatively small percentage of the population—the organization has allowed many, including myself, to have a place to call home. Its members come from all walks of life, with open hearts and minds, with a willingness to teach and learn. The African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ couldn’t be better exemplified than in the confines of a BCALA membership.”
You can learn more about BCALA at its website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram!
Image: Photograph of BCALA members at the 1977 ALA Conference, from the ALA Archives.
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