Allegra Westbrooks, 2007 March 12

Allegra Westbrooks recounts her thirty-six year career as head of library services at the segregated Brevard Street Library, located in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, also known as Second Ward, and later in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg public library. She describes library services and programs, including starting a discussion group centered around African American religion, serving neighborhoods without libraries with a bookmobile, and using clubs and churches to promote reading. Ms. Westbrooks discusses how the Brevard Street Library, a part of the Charlotte public library system, closed in 1961 as the libraries became integrated, and describes the community\u2019s reaction to the closing. She also describes urban renewal in Charlotte during the 1960s and 1970s, the reason why she believes Brooklyn was targeted for urban renewal, and the African American community's relationship with local government during that time.