1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

In another county with a heavy ratio of Negro population there were 12
stations, only i of which was for Negroes.
Among the libraries maintaining racially separate branches, the 30
reporting hours of service showed an average of 33.3 hours weekly service
at the white branches and 15.2 at the Negro branches. Two libraries
reported being open to Negroes only during the summer.
Twenty-eight of the 39 segregated libraries reported on the size of
their book collections. Nineteen reported an average of over 28,000
circulating and 959 reference books at white branches and an average of
4,379 circulating and 161 reference books at the Negro branch. As to
reference books in these 19 libraries, 2 reported no reference books for
Negroes while in the remaining 17 there were between 1.2 and 15.2
times as many reference books for whites as for Negroes.
Seven libraries reported only on the combined reference and circulating
collections. The average in white libraries was 30,555 as against
8,323 at the branches for Negroes—the range of difference being between
3 and 6.8 times as many books in the white, as in the Negro
libraries.
The <strong>Commission</strong>'s survey included only about one-third of the
public libraries in the 17 Southern States receiving Federal aid under
the Library Services Act. The information received shows clearly that
in some cases services are not available to Negro residents at all though
they are available to whites. In others, some provision is made for
Negroes in separate inferior branches. Surely these discriminations
violate the Federal law authorizing financial aid, and requiring that
services shall be free to all residents of the community served. Surely
they also violate the equal protection clause, which does not permit
racial distinctions in public educational facilities.
On April 13, <strong>1961</strong> the <strong>Commission</strong> addressed a letter to the Secretary
of Health, Education, and Welfare, requesting information as to the
following:
(1) amount of funds allotted to the Southern States under the
Library Services Act of 1956 for fiscal <strong>1961</strong>;
(2) the existence of any policy established by agency regulations
on the equal availability to all residents of the community of
library facilities receiving Federal aid; and
(3) any requirement by the <strong>Commission</strong>er of Education, in approving
State plans, that the regulations prescribed by the
State library agency contain such a provision.
In his reply of May 10, <strong>1961</strong> the Assistant Secretary supplied the
fiscal data requested, but failed to disclose the department's policy,
if any, with regard to enforcement of compliance with the provisions
of the statute requiring the libraries to "serve free all residents of a
community, district, or region."
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