We’ve been stopping by any library that seemed open as we’ve been on our civil rights tour of Central Alabama. Here is a final list of where I’ve been. I’ll update this to call it a complete list once my trip is over.
Pelham Public Library, Pelham, AL
Hoover Public Library, Hoover AL
Richard M. Scrushy Library, Vestavia Hills AL
Birmingham Public Library Central Branch , Birmingham AL
Southside Branch Library, Birmingham, AL
Mervyn H. Sterne Library, UAB, Birmingham AL
Lister Hill library of the Health Sciences, UAB, Birmingham AL
Reynolds Historical Library, UAB, Birmingham AL
Rufus A. Lewis Regional Library, Montgomery AL
Selma Dallas County Library, Selma, AL
Tuscaloosa Public Library, Tuscaloosa, AL
Gorgas Library, UAT, Tuscaloosa, AL
Hoole Special Collections Library, UAT, Tuscaloosa, AL
Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering, UAT, Tuscaloosa, AL
Bounds Law Library, UAT, Tuscaloosa, AL
Lister Hill was one of the supporters of the LSA but he also signed the Southern Manifesto…so visiting the library on your tour may have been a librarian’s dilemma.
Since you were on a civil rights tour, I meant to tell you my story about meeting the mayor of Belfast. You can find a version of it here: http://tscott.typepad.com/bearded_pigs/2005/11/jerusalem.html
I really appreciated that you posted your presentation at Sterne Library. Thanks so much.
I grew up in Birmingham and worked at Lister Hill Library for ten years before moving to the Pacific Northwest. There is certainly a dichotomy present in the Southern psyche. For all that Lister Hill did during his long career, the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences is an excellent resource for the medical center and it has an excellent director guiding it. As Scott relates in the previous comment about his encounter with the mayor of Belfast, the essence of the area, especially Kelly Ingram Park, and the 16th Street Baptist church, is truly sacred ground. Living in an environment fueled in the past by racism, prejudice, and violence, possibly makes us all kindred spirits who lived through it.