Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration

Library History Round Table Reads Selection, March 2024
Alexandria Historical Society Special Merit Award, 2023

Public in Name Only tells the important, but largely forgotten, story of Tucker and a group of Black citizens who agitated for change in the terms and conditions of their lives. Employing the combined strategies of direct-action public protest, nonviolent civil disobedience, and municipal litigation, Tucker's initiative dovetailed with the national priorities and tactics of larger civil rights organizations. While Tucker's campaign did not end with the desegregation of the Alexandria Library, but instead resulted in the creation of a "separate-and-unequal" Jim Crow Black branch, the sit-in demonstration represents a momentous early struggle for racial equity waged through civil rights activism.

BRENDA MITCHELL-POWELL, who holds a PhD from Simmons University, is an independent scholar based in Alexandria, Virginia.