Learning While Black

The 'Black' Carnegie Library

In the news lately the “Black Carnegie Library Savannah” was listed as one of the most beautiful libraries in Georgia. But not only is it a beautiful library, it has a remarkable history. A history that reminds us too much of Savannah’s history is told with the emphasis on white history. Yet the first local bank in Savannah was Carver State Bank.  The Carver State Bank was established on February 23, 1927, and was then known as the Georgia Savings and Realty Corporation. Still in existence today it was established and remains a black-run bank. Savannah State University is the oldest public historically black university in the state. It is also the oldest intact university of Savannah established in 1890. So it should be of no surprise when I tell you the Carnegie Library, when it opened in August 1914, is not only the city's first library to serve black citizens—it was Savannah's first freestanding public library.

The City of Savannah had been running a library inside of the Georgia Historical Society and was now looking to apply for and build a Carnegie Library. The only issue with this was the library would not allow black patrons. Leading members of Savannah’s black community stepped in and decided to apply for their own Carnegie Library. These Black leaders were able to get their act together before the white community and had their building up and running years before the eventual ‘White’ Carnegie library. 

The library sits across from Dixon Park on a block of Victorian Homes. It was designed by Savannah architect and engineer Julian deBruyn Kops. It is designed in the style of the Prairie School architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Carnegie Library is the only example of this style in a public building in Savannah. It is one of Savannah’s under-appreciated architectural masterpieces.

Not only is the setting and the design remarkable but for five decades it served the African-American community. Within its walls such famous black Savannahians as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Pulitzer Prize winner author James Alan McPherson, Savannah’s first three Black mayors Floyd Adams, Otis Johnson and Edna Jackson, all read, study and grew mentally to be leaders in the nation and the city. It was not until 1963 that the ‘white’ public Carnegie library on Bull Street became integrated. Some speculate it may be may be one of the last operating African-American libraries in the country.

In 2001 the library had a 1.5 million dollar renovation and expansion. Because of several of his friends’ donations, one of the wings is named in honor of Justice Clarence Thomas. It was a controversial naming because Justice Thomas often cast court votes against what the majority of blacks believe.

The building still has 200 of the original books that the Savannah black community donated about African American subjects at its beginning. Today it stands as a place for the neighborhood children to gather to learn and read. But in a yesteryear it was a lifesaver for young black minds ready to make their mark in the world.    
 
 
 
 

---