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“We’re So Glad You’re Here, and We’re So Glad You’re Black”: Esther Walls’s Life and Work in Libraries and Literacy Organizations
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

“We’re So Glad You’re Here, and We’re So Glad You’re Black”: Esther Walls’s Life and Work in Libraries and Literacy Organizations

Jennifer Burek Pierce and Erik Henderson
Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, Vol.6(1), pp.149-169
03/2022
DOI: 10.5325/libraries.6.1.0149
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Abstract

Esther J. Walls (1926–2008) was a Black librarian born in Mason City, Iowa, who sought social justice in her home state before making her belief in equity and literacy the touchstone of her significant career. Walls worked at the New York Public Library and other important institutions, including appointments to prominent organizations' committees and boards that recognized her deep knowledge and commitment to service. While earning her master's degree in library science from Columbia University in 1951 and for years after-ward, Walls brought Black culture into the Harlem Branch library and brought the library and its resources into the Harlem community, a then-radical act of information-sharing.
outreach New York Public Library young adult services Black excellence library history

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