The title of my TimelineJS Lab assignment is ‘A Brief Timeline of Black American Librarianship.’ Throughout my studies at Pratt Institute, reiterated professionals at events and symposiums, in online spaces, and in journals, there has been a substantial amount of recognition in how whiteness dominates Library and Information Sciences (Sierpe, 2019). The locus seems to be on the contemporary moment, and while of course this is crucial for reconciling the rifts in representation, I was curious what form the historical Black American presence in librarianship took on. I had no doubt there was a presence, but how extensive? 

The chapter “A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship,” in Handbook of Black Librarianship provided a listed timeline detailing notable persons and associated events from 1808-1998. Though extensive, it was not a visualization and the events noted were centered around institutions. While waiting for the electronic scan of the chapter I also conducted online research, where the WordPress Reclaiming the Library created by librarian Lisa Bintrim included a brief timeline that embodied literary history beyond the library space, beginning in 1828. I drew from their use of historic photos and acknowledgement of literary societies in my own timeline. These main sources were supplemented by further research through the web.

With my main sources providing an extensive list of dates, there were a plethora of key events and people to choose from. I chose events that relate to one another in an attempt to form cohesive narratives, or reflect development in equitable librarianship. Additionally I highlighted individuals who were influential in challenging assertions of hegemonic white supremacy in librarianship. In order to ground the timeline into a broader social context, key dates in civil rights in the U.S. were also incorporated. This was also done in order to emphasize that systemic oppression is a constant undercurrent to information accessibility and authority, in which Black librarians  have continuously subverted. The use of images was to emphasize the events and people in librarianship against the contextual ones surrounding civil rights. Due to the majority of the images being warm-toned historical photos, a very dark brown background was used to enhance contrast.

Although I am satisfied with the final timeline, moving forward I want to be more realistic with the dataset I choose. I was reminded while conducting the research for this project that finding information on the Black experience is challenging, and when coupled with topics like information access and literacy, it can be extensively dispersed and time consuming to discover and synthesize. Additionally if handling more written information in future assignments I would like to cater more towards how people read on the web.

American Library Association. (n.d.). Mission & History. ALA. https://www.ala.org/aboutala/mission-history

Bintrim, L. (n.d.). Reclaiming the Library. WordPress. https://africanamericanlibraryhistory.wordpress.com/

Digital Public Library of America (n.d.) A History of US Public Libraries. DPLA. https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries

Evans, R. (2020). Catherine Latimer: The New York Public Library’s First Black Librarian. New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/03/19/new-york-public-library-first-black-librarian-catherine-latimer

Jordan, C.L, Josey, E.J. (2000). A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship. In Josey, E.J. & DeLoach M.L. (Eds.), Handbook of Black Librarianship. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Summers, M. (n.d.) Bodies of Knowledge. The Culture Crush. https://www.theculturecrush.com/feature/bodies-of-knowledge

Summers, M. (n.d.) Bodies of Knowledge. The Culture Crush. https://www.theculturecrush.com/feature/bodies-of-knowledge