http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6669152.html
Founder of ALA Black Caucus also forced integration of state library
associations
John Berry & Norman Oder -- Library Journal,
7/6/2009
-Activist at core
-Pushed Council toward integration
-Authored The Black Librarian in America, articles books
Library civil rights activist, administrator, author, and educator E.
J. Josey, founder of the Black Caucus of the American Library
Association (ALA) and the ALA's second black president (1984-85),
died July 3, in Washington, NC. He was 85. In 2002, Josey was elected
to honorary membership, ALA's highest honor, cited by the ALA Council
"in recognition of his tireless commitment to the association, to
equal access to information resources, and to the education and
employment of librarians."
A service will be held Saturday at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist
Church, Greenville, NC, according to messages posted on the ALA
Council electronic mailing list. (Image from University of Pittsburgh
page on Josey.)
Also, he will be honored via a foundation set up to honor his life
and work: The E.J. Josey Foundation for Justice and Peace, 526 West
Second Street, Washington, NC 27889.
Josey was professor emeritus, Department of Library and Information
Science, School of Library and Information Sciences, University of
Pittsburgh, and held a series of prominent administrative jobs during
his career, but he was most famous for leading the charge against
segregated library associations, sponsoring the 1964 ALA Council
resolution which banned ALA officers from participating in state
associations that denied membership to black librarians and sought to
expel segregated chapters in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
The four chapters quickly integrated. One of those chapters, the
Georgia Library Association, had previously refused membership to
Josey, who from 1959-1966 was Chief Librarian and Associate Professor
at Savannah State University, GA. Later he was the first
African-American allowed to join.
In 1970, he edited the pioneering book The Black Librarian in America
(Scarecrow Press) and in 1994 edited a sequel, The Black Librarian in
America Revisited (Scarecrow Press; LJ review).
Activist at core
A 29-year member of Council, Josey, as old timers in ALA will
remember, regularly disrupted Council meetings when its members
refused to adopt policies and measures to improve the situation of
minorities in librarianship. He challenged the ALA establishment
throughout the late 1950s and into the next decade; once he became so
angry he noisily condemned the Council, walking out of the session.
He was the first of an activist, militant generation of black
leaders, African-American librarians who no longer would wait to "pay
their dues" before being allowed to participate in the politics of
the library profession.
Josey's activism was unceasing. He joined the picket line in 1970
when a group of librarians attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting
marched in the near-zero weather around the federal courthouse in
Chicago in support of Abbie Hoffman and the "Chicago Seven," on trial
before the notoriously harsh Judge Julius Hoffman.
After the founding of the Social Responsibilities Round Table, Josey
would travel to New York City from Albany and elsewhere to attend
regular meetings.
Library militancy
"Libraries to the People" was the campaign slogan that library
activists meeting at the New York Public Library devised to launch
Josey's ALA presidency. The book that came out of the ALA conference
Josey and his militant library cadre put together was Libraries,
Coalitions, and the Public Good (1987), published by Neal-Schuman,
the house presided over by fellow activist and a subsequent ALA
president, Pat Schuman; it featured writings from some of the most
militant library leaders of that era.
In his inaugural address in June 1984, Josey declared, "The
information industry has the technology to control information, but
its price tag on information distribution and its profit goal create
a bias in what information is made available and how it is dispensed.
Only the nonprofit organization, the library, dedicated to a total
community service goal with trained experts, librarians, running the
operation can provide the full scope of information for the total
population in a fair and objective manner."
Career highlights
Before teaching at Pitt, Josey held multiple positions in the New
York State Education Department's Division of Library Development.
Prior to his appointment as head of the library at Savannah State, he
directed the library of Delaware State College, Dover. He also served
on the staff of Columbia University Library, Free Library of
Philadelphia, and the New York Public Library.
Josey wrote more than 400 journal articles and wrote or edited a
dozen books, including What Black Librarians Are Saying (Scarecrow
Press, 1972) and Ethnic Collections (Neal-Schuman, 1983).
BCALA annually offers two E.J. Josey Scholarships, unrestricted
grants of $2000 awarded annually to African American students
enrolled in or accepted by ALA accredited programs.
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