MPL UNBOUND (ISSN 3065-503X) is a publication of the MEMPHIS LIBRARY FOUNDATION
3030 Poplar Ave, Memphis, Tennessee 38111
To support the Memphis Public Libraries, scan the code at right, visit memphislibraryfoundation.org/donate, or email us at: unbound@memphislibraryfoundation.org
THE MEMPHIS LIBRARY FOUNDATION IS RECOGNIZED BY THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE AS A PUBLIC CHARITY WITH NONPROFIT STATUS, REGISTERED AS A TAX-EXEMPT CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.
Using your mobile device, scan the QR code above to make a tax-deeductible donation to the Memphis Library Foundation
IMAGINE MORE
The city funds the cost of library operations like staff salaries & benefits, building maintenance, & security; private donors make our awardwinning library programming possible. The Memphis Library Foundation was founded in 1995 to secure private and corporate donations to fund our innovative and community-centered work at the libraries.
Above: Artist Brandon Marshall nears completion of his mural for the Orange Mound Library, in January 2025. Brandon’s profile and the inspirations behind his mural can be seen on page 29, and an evolution of his work can be seen throughout this issue.
photo by Mark Fleischer
MPL UNBOUND, A PUBLICATION OF THE MEMPHIS LIBRARY FOUNDATION SPRING, 2025 VOLUME I, ISSUE II
IN-THE-KNOW
The latest on threats to federal funding support of libraries, the Richard Wright Literary Awards, Crew News, a Naturalization Ceremony, and more
FEATURE: THE FOUNDATION AT WORK
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Tattoos & Fashion, at the library?! Raising money for programs, renovations, and new builds, the Foundation also hosts a diversity of events that bring people together.
RESTORATIONS,
INNOVATIONS
A new library in Raleigh, a renovated Cossitt, and the story behind the transformation of old Melrose High School into Orange Mound’s first library
CONNECTIONS
MEET ME AT THE LIBRARY
Shamichael Hallman, author of Meet Me at the Library, says the moment is now to be fierce advocates for libraries.
GENEALOGY: CONNECTING MEMPHIS
Skyler Gambert’s passion for his genealogical work at Orange Mound is exceeded only by that of his customers.
HISTORY
901VOICES: ORANGE MOUND ORAL HISTORIES
A remarkable collection of stories and remembrances from women whose homes and hearts lie in Orange Mound.
Emmett Till; historical
for democracy; and May library
for Memphis books
For our second issue of MPL UNBOUND, we pay homage to the old Melrose High School with a cover that incorporates shades of the school colors, gold and maroon, in a design inspired by 20th century abstract artist Piet Mondrian’s grid compositions, and that echoes a fusion of years of high school yearbooks.
Cover photos, left to right: young men and women swimming at the Orange Mound Swimming Pool (date unknown, from DIG Memphis); Melrose High School, 1940s (various sources); Melrose High School Basketball Golden Wildcats, 1974 TSSAA State Champs team photo (various sources)
START HERE
DEAR READERS,
As we release this second issue of MPL UNBOUND, I’m reminded once again that the true story of the library isn’t only about books — it’s about people.
It’s the father bringing his daughter to storytime every Saturday, the teen discovering a passion for coding at Cloud901, the English-learner who finds connection through their local branch’s conversation circle, the job-seeker who gets help revamping their resume, and the countless community members who walk through our doors seeking knowledge, comfort, inspiration — a place to belong.
At the Memphis Library Foundation, we know libraries aren’t luxuries, they’re lifelines.
Which is why I must also share a challenge facing libraries across the country, including ours. A recent executive order proposes to eliminate federal funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) — a vital agency that supports libraries of all sizes. This funding helps deliver early literacy programs, support digital access, and connect Memphians to essential resources through services like LINC 211.
While this threat is real, our resolve is even stronger. Libraries have always adapted, persisted, and thrived because of the communities that believe in them.
This issue of MPL Unbound is a celebration of the creativity, resilience, and impact happening every day in our 18 branches. You’ll read about young innovators, dedicated staff, groundbreaking programs, and meaningful partnerships that show just how alive and essential our libraries are.
The future of libraries isn’t just written by policymakers — it’s shaped by communities who believe in their power. That includes you. Make your love for libraries knownshare your stories with us in UNBOUND or on our social media.
Thank you for loving your library.
~With gratitude and hope, Christine Weinreich, Executive Director Memphis Library Foundation
PREPARING FOR THE STORM
Last fall, before the 2024 election, we began outlining the lead topics of this, our second issue: the jewel that is the new Orange Mound Library; the innovative and critical efforts of the Memphis Library Foundation; and how libraries serve as pillars of democracy.
At the time, many of us on the UNBOUND team were quietly expressing our concerns over one candidate’s potential agenda, concerns already smoldering in our psyches alongside rising attacks on libraries and librarians.
Those attacks were isolated. We theorized that they were part of a trend that, as history tells us, would correct itself, something we could ride out like a passing storm. Here in Memphis, much like how we often seem spared from the severest of weather, we knew we were blessed with a protective community and legislative umbrella.
But we were concerned about very specific references to librarians and libraries, as well as the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s publication titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” During last year’s campaign, questions of its deployment were summarily dismissed. Still we wondered, was its proposals just a set of suggestions? Or would they be treated as mandates?
The question is now moot; in mere months we have seen the flood of actions taken by the administration directly echoing the plan that have impacted pillar institutions supporting multiple foundations of our society and everyday lives.
Regarding our public libraries, we have kept an eye on the storm, wondering, “When are we next?” We now have that answer.
The March 14th Executive Order dismantling the IMLS is the first set of attacks to this cherished pillar. Right now, thanks to the support of the City, we know that daily library operations will continue as normal. However, some supporting programs have already been impacted (see page 7).
We also know this is a storm we must fully prepare for, with existential concerns made all the worse by their byproduct: fear. In response, the three-legged support system of the Memphis Public Libraries, the Friends of the Library, and the Memphis Library Foundation (and by extension this magazine), will double-down on the cause in service of a free society, and in support of our entire community, regardless of political affiliation.
Mark Fleischer, Chief Editor
COMIC CON COMIC CON
MAY 31 10AM-3PM
DIAL 2-1-1 to reach the community information and referral resources of LINC, the Library Information Center at the Memphis Public Library. LINC, in conjunction with United Way of the Mid-South, is the local source for community resources. LINC maintains a large, comprehensive database of human services organizations, government agencies and volunteer groups, which can now be accessed by dialing 2-1-1. Call for help with utilities, food, protective services, legal assistance, childcare, social support, housing, and mental health. Services are accessible to the hearingimpaired by calling TTY 415-2701. Toll free access is also available at (855) 354-4211. MAY 31 10AM-3PM
SUBMITTING CONTENT
MPL UNBOUND will consider submissions from local, Mid-South storytellers or those with ties to Memphis and the Library. Storytellers may submit a variety of works, including book reviews, poetry, photography, and artwork. Letters to the Editor should be 175 words or less. Use the QR code here, or visit memphislibrary.org. See page 31 for more details.
THE LIBRARY IN YOUR MAILBOX
THE LIBRARY IN YOUR MAILBOX
Library supporters who give at least $25 per month or $250 annually to support the Memphis Public Libraries receive UNBOUND by mail each quarter. Scan the QR code or visit memphislibraryfoundation.org to donate today!
Responses to MPL UNBOUND, the Inaugural Issue
Staff: “Wow. We did not expect this!”
From branch to branch and in meeting after meeting, staff of the Memphis Public Libraries reacted with combinations of pride, excitement, and even astonishment once they had the new magazine in their hands. As one staff member told me, “When we heard about a library magazine, we weren’t sure what to expect, but wow, we did not expect this.”
This feedback from staff satisfied one of our many goals of this experiment, which was to challenge ourselves in producing something that really knocked peoples’ socks off. We were thrilled that we did.
That’s not to say that we met every goal we set out to meet with the first issue (read on for the type and font size discussion on this page), but we feel strongly that we set a solid foundation from which to build a quality publication.
~Mark Fleischer
“[The] publication looks so professional. [And] as a visual artist, I think it looks great.”
~Sparks, Central branch
“It’s very slick. Kudos on a job well done.”
~Celia, Central branch
“I must applaud you! The premier issue of UNBOUND is excellent! The layout is very well done, the writing is great. I like that you included history as well as current topics.”
~Sharon, Cordova branch
Eye of the Beholder: About that font size
In addition to words of appreciation, excellence, and even wonder, we received a great deal of feedback on the font size of most of our main articles: it was easily too small. And a few readers commented on the length of our articles.
“To enhance readability and make future issues more accessible, I suggest increasing the font size and reducing the length of articles. I skimmed through the magazine and read Stephen Usery’s Book Talk and the Alchemy article about the Friends sorting room. However, I found it challenging to commit to engaging with other articles due to their length and small font size. . . If someone like me, with aging eyes, struggles to read content they are interested in, it raises concerns about engaging younger readers who are accustomed to shorter, more concise content.”
~Richard Smith, reader
TPF“I have just received your UNBOUND publication with pleasure. I am a graphic designer and artist and love the printed word. When browsing through your magazine I was interested in the content but overwhelmed with the effort to read it. The text and graphics are very dense and hard to read. I know that in these days you want to economize on the number of pages you print. However, if the content is daunting to the average reader you will subvert the effort you are making by reaching out. A critical eye and a careful edit would improve the experience.”
~Paula Kovarik, reader
Whew. Yes, I could not agree more. I, too, am one of those readers with aging eyes. And I, too, found the font size to be a bit small. Specifically, it was finer that we expected, and it read quite small. This was not by design. Here is how we arrived at our font and size.
TYPOGRAPHY 101
During the branding and design phase of planning the magazine, we compiled research and feedback and conducted a series of tests to select the ideal type and font size that best balanced our magazine aspirations with our probable core audience.
SIZE, & TYPE, MATTERS
In our research, we referenced a number of sources to identify the more easy-toread fonts for print. In our online, handhelddevice world, where pages and fonts may
be increased and zoomed-out by the touch and spread of our fingers, size carries less importance.
But in print, font type and size is essential for effective communication and to promote accessibility and inclusivity. For example, for those with dyslexia or other visual impairments, fonts without a serif - sansserif - are generally more suitable (serifs are those small, flair-like embellishments on each letter).
We narrowed our choices down and tested roughly less than a dozen fonts. Here are a couple of common fonts we did not consider:
American Typewriter: a classic font, used in newspaper print many decades ago. It is heavy in serifs and for some readers, contributes to reader fatigue
Arial: often the default font used in many applications, it contains no serifs. It is easy to read, but its very commonality did not meet our aspirations.
Ultimately and after much debate we landed on the font Helvetica. In terms of point size, we printed out - on 8 1/2 x 11” paper - a sample article in various point sizes and spacing, and passed the copies around the room to test them on diverse sets of eyes. Readability and word count were important considerations in our evaluations. And after numerous comparisons, we arrived at point size 8.25 as shown here:
Point size 8.25, printed out on 8 1/2 x 11” office paper, seemed to give us a balance in a size that also allowed for an acceptable average word count per page. We employed this size in all of our feature articles. We edited to this size. We approved pages to this size.
However, we quickly discovered that our reading tests could not replicate the fine print quality and paper type used by our printer, Hot Graphics. And by the time we reviewed the proofs (prints that provide exact productions of sample magazine pages), it was too late to increase font size and make all the necessary cuts to every article to fit them onto every page. And with that, the inaugural issue went out to the masses with this hard-to-read font size. For this and ongoing issues, we have retained Helvetica . .
. . but have increased the point size to 9, and the spacing to 10.5. We think this will better suit all of our eyes, aging or otherwise.
SPACE & LENGTH MATTERS
Finally, we addressed the length of our articles - yes they are shorter - and opened up more “breathing room” around articles. All told, we think you’ll find a more enjoyable reading experience.
~Mark Fleischer
STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS
The Library in Your Hands
MPL UNBOUND, a Publication of the Memphis Library Foundation
Publisher: CHRISTINE WEINREICH Executive Director of the Memphis Library Foundation (MLF)
Associate Publisher: RACHEL KAELBERER MATTSON Director of Development & Communications MLF
Chief Editor: MARK FLEISCHER
Co-Editors: REBECCA STOVALL BETH THORNE JUANITA WHITE
Associate Editors: TAJUANA FULTON ANDREA BLEDSOE KING
Cossitt Library:
33 S. Front Street, 38103; (901) 415-2766
Cornelia Crenshaw Memorial Library: 531 Vance Avenue, 38126; (901) 415-2765
Gaston Park Library: 1040 South Third Street, 38106; (901) 415-2769
South Library: 1929 South Third Street, 38109; (901) 415-2780
Levi Library: 3676 South Third Street, 38109; (901) 415-2773
Original Masthead, Type Design: REBECCA PHILLIPS Dribbble.com
Operations: MOLLY PEACHER-RYAN Director of Operations & Donor Strategy MLF
Contributors:
KYLE LIOTTA
The Memphis & Shelby County Room
STEPHEN USERY
WYPL Program Manager, Host of Nationally-Syndicated Show BookTalk
MARK RIDDLE Manager, South Library
ANTONIO EDWARDS Library Program Specialist, Cossitt Library
LAUREL PHILLIPS
Rhodes College student & 2024 Memphis Library Foundation intern
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS MAY thru JULY 2025
SCAN FOR ALL MPL EVENTS
LIT LOUNGE: TWEEN BOOK CHAT
5:00pm - 6:00pm • Raleigh Library
Children’s Area (RAL)
Ages: Tweens (Age 8-12)
Every Monday this summer
Calling all book-loving tweens! Join us each Monday evening in the Lit Lounge — a chill space to hang out, and chat about what you’ve been reading.
Bring a book you’ve read (or are currently reading) - No assigned reading, no pressure
SUMMER ZINE WORKSHOP (MONDAY-FRIDAY)
4:00pm - 6:00pm • Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
CLOUD901 Lounge Ages: Teens
In collaboration with the Central Library Humanities Department!
4-6pm each evening Monday thru Friday
SENIOR HEALTH FAIR
11am - 3pm • Benjamin L. Hooks
Central Library, Lobby Ages: Adults, Adults-Seniors
This event is aimed at informing, educating, and providing health care resources and health information to seniors. It is FREE to vendors and participating seniors.
Memphis Public Libraries is providing continuing education and lifelong learning classes designed to give people an opportunity to grow in their professional and personal lives by offering 4 intense
weeks of study in various subject areas. Spring 2025 offerings thru end of May. For more information, scan here >>
Memphis Public Libraries lends non-traditional items, too!
First Repair Café is Sunday, June 1st 1:30-4:30pm
MPL is hosting regular Repair Days in 2025 in partnership with the international Repair Café organization! Bring in broken items, clothes, toasters, books, etc. and have them repaired for FREE by our team of volunteers and experts. We’re also looking for volunteer menders, small electronics fixers, bike repairers, and anyone else with a knack for making things whole! Scan the QR code for more information.
RICHARD WRIGHT LITERARY AWARDS
The 3rd annual Richard Wright Literary Award recipients were announced March 27 at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. Sponsored by the Memphis Library Foundation, International Paper and Alice Faye Duncan in memory of Earline Duncan, the event celebrates and awards local authors in various categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and illustration.
And the 2025 recipients are:
ADULT FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION
Katie Silverwings - Warmth & Darkness
ADULT FICTION
Avery Cunningham - Mayor of Maxwell Street
ADULT NONFICTION
Wiley Henry - Daddy: A.C. Williams and His Teen Town Singers
ADULT POETRY
Tara M. Stringfellow - Magic Enuff
CHILDREN FICTION
T’Arrah Marjé - Prideful Penny
CHILDREN NONFICTION
Ashley Davis - Shelby County A to Z
CHILDREN POETRY
T’Arrah Marjé - Love Is Spelled T.I.M.E
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Martheus Wade - Jetta Tales of the Toshigawa - Defiance
ILLUSTRATED BOOK
Laila Muhammad - The Crossover: The Fashioner & the Moon
ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN
Martheus Wade - Park Pals & the Grand Opening of Starry Nights
SINGLE WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY
“Not My Day from Memphis Mosaic”Barbara Ragsdale
COMING FRIDAY JULY 18!
THE MEMPHIS LIBRARY FOUNDATION IS NOW ON SUBSTACK
YOUNG ADULT FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION
Beth Alvarez - The Witch & the Wyrm
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Daniel Reece - Knight & Daye: Box of Darkness Book 2
YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION
Jasper Joyner - Pansy: A Black American Memoir
YOUNG ADULT POETRY
J. M. Paden - Premonition
Right: Martheus Wade takes home the award for Best Graphic Novel for the second straight year
SCAN ME
Executive Order Threatens Federal Funding Support for Libraries: WHAT YOU CAN DO
On Friday, March 14, the Office of the President of the United States issued an Executive Order (EO) that effectively eliminates the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the federal agency that supports libraries and museums across the U.S.
How has IMLS supported the Memphis Public Libraries? From 2022-2024, the state of Tennessee received over $10,000,000 from IMLS to distribute to libraries through Technology Opportunities for Public, Construction, and Technology Grants. Further, IMLS funds TEL - the Tennessee Electronic Library.
This Executive Order not only impacts critical community hubs and resources (including underfunded rural libraries) but also does not recognize the direct and beneficial impact these institutions have on our community.
The same day the EO was issued, a resolution was passed to fund IMLS through September, 2025, and much can happen between now and then to change the EO. However, changes to federal funding have already impacted our libraries: a grant MLF applied for has been cut by more than half, and we’ve received notice of changes being made to the budget of a large workforce development grant. IMLS funding has supported myriad critical collection development, technology enhancement, and programming at Memphis Public Libraries. If you are as concerned as we are - and we know many of you are - here are ways you can help MPL and libraries all over the country:
INFORM Your Representatives
Reach out to elected officials (especially those whom you may know personally) and let them know how libraries have made a difference in your life and why this funding matters to Memphis. You can find your elected officials here: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
SHARE Your Library Story
Tell your story on social media, in a letter to the editor, in a conversation with friends - use your voice to prove the integral role libraries play in building informed, connected, and thriving communities. Tag @memphislibrary and @memphislibraryfoundation and use #FundLibraries to amplify the message.
Financial SUPPORT
Your donations ensure that, even in uncertain times, MPL can continue to be a place of innovation, safety, learning, and belonging. If you’re able, please consider an additional gift to help sustain vital programs that may be impacted. Go to www. memphislibraryfoundation.org, or scan here:
Using your mobile device, scan the QR code here to make a taxdeductible donation to the Memphis Library Foundation
DONATE HERE
EXPLORE MEMPHIS!
SUMMER is fast on its way!
Every year Memphis Public Libraries participate in their version of summer reading, Explore Memphis. MPL encourages people of all ages to read, earn prizes, attend library programs, and explore their city. This year is no different.
Pick up a reading log at the beginning of summer and start your reading journey! Explore Memphis runs June 1st to July 31st.
Children and teens will earn weekly prizes (as supplies last) for every week of the summer that they read, as well as entering them into a drawing for various grand prizes at the end of the summer. Adults will also have a smattering of prizes they can earn!
We’re kicking off the summer at the Whitehaven Library with Explore Memphest
on May 24th from 1-4pm. Come by for live music, free food, giveaways, a wealth of resources, and your summer reading log, of course! There will also be another Memphest at the brand new Frayser Library for the summer finale on August 2nd, from 1-4pm. If you haven’t been to the new location, prepare to be wowed, see you there!
FEATURE: The Foundation at Work
Fulfilling a Mission That’s More Important Than Ever
TAKE A CLOSE LOOK at the photo at right. Two library patrons are exploring sets of artwork - tattoo flash - to consider wearing permanently as their own expressions of love for this treasured institution called the public library.
Many of us like to call the library our Third Place. For some folks, as Shamichael Hallman has said, “It’s the only place.” And Foundation Executive Director Christine Weinreich has often said that for some, it’s literally a lifeline. Such is the spectrum of the citizenry the library serves, from rich to poor, young to old.
Mr. Hallman and Ms. Weinreich’s voices are featured prominently in this issue of MPL UNBOUND, sharing their thoughts on the multitude of ways the library supports our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In light of the recent actions to cut federal funding assistance for libraries, these discussions arrive at a moment that has few precedents in U.S. history. As these essential places and lifelines face very real threats, the work of the Memphis Library Foundation reminds us that there is much we can do, and much to give us hope. Read on.
Inked Event Draws Library Dollars, Support, Love
On Monday, March 31st at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, the Memphis Library Foundation hosted Library Love is Permanent 2025, an annual fundraiser that offers the public the chance to get tattooed in one of the Memphis Public Libraries!
Each year, the event draws in hundreds of people eager to support their local library by donating and choosing their favorite available tattoo option in return.
The tattoo options (called “flash”) are often literary in theme, featuring classic illustrations and quotes from books like The Giving Tree, Goosebumps, and The Phantom Tollbooth.
This year, we hosted 11 participating tattoo artists, close to 200 flash tattoo options, and hundreds of patrons over the course of 8 hours.
This fundraiser would not have been possible without the collaboration of Underground Art, Inc. and all of the tattoo artists who donated their talents, either by tattooing or donating their art.
LIBRARY LOVE IS PERMANENT
Library Love is Permanent photos by Katie Shelton KATIE SHELTON CREATIVE
KATIE SHELTON CREATIVE
Above: models embody a “living pop-up book” on the Cossitt runway
Above, middle: Foundation Director Christine Weinreich shares a laugh with Cossitt Manager Brian Lyles of which the models would appear and walk down the runway. A living pop-up book.
To make that connection unmistakable, Lyles engaged MPL’s Collection Development Manager, Monique Williams, to introduce stories to the sartorial. Williams looked through each designer’s pieces and personal perspective to find the novels and books that connected them to the greater story of The Library Collection. One of her favorites was pairing Brezerk, who besides being a designer is also a rapper/singer, with hip-hop books such as Who’s that Girl: A Memoir by Eve and The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop by Clover Hope. “The crowd loved her. She had a lot of charisma. I loved [how] her entire line was a cohesive look, perfecting that lane that she was in.”
The show was a success. Reservations and VIP experiences filled up quickly. Attendees were even asked to display their own fashions during an intermission, rivaling some from the show itself. “They strutted their stuff,” said Weinreich. Models who were originally skeptical or under the impression that the library was hosting just the rehearsals, not the show itself, were wowed with
the result, telling industry friends it was one of the best venues they’d ever worked in. Lyles’ own best impression of the night was standing near the press of photographers at the end of runway, as Demi walked out with his models. “I couldn’t wait to see that snapshot. This was real. This exceeded our imagination.”
The Library Collection won’t stop at the runway. The Memphis Library Foundation is committed to leveraging the awe that is inspired when creatives working with and for the library create this kind of meaning in Memphis. Fashion and financial literacy initiatives, sewing programs, learning to define your style or making something new from an old pair of jeans will become an access point for anything that the public wants to learn or experience that otherwise might be hard to access. Or that folks might think are hard to access here in Memphis.
“There’s opportunities that are right in front of us,” said Lyles, “This is where it starts ... now we [can] connect people and create a pipeline to get other Memphians involved. We have something special, and the beauty of Cossitt is that we can be a canvas for a lot of different people doing amazing things in this city.”
Photos by D’Angelo Connell Photography https://www.dcthesnapper.com
Breathing New Life Into Old Melrose High School
GIVEN A PENCIL AND PAPER, most library patrons could likely sketch out their own library design, gathering visions from all the library spaces they’d seen before. They would no-doubt draw a space for books, perhaps a welcoming area for the reference desk, a smattering of study rooms, a checkout desk, a quiet area for computers, and the obligatory bathroom.
In recent years, Memphis Public Libraries has built or renovated a few new spaces for libraries, including the new Raleigh Library and long-beloved Cossitt Library. Walking through either of those doors, a member of the public can expect all the usual library trappings of shelves, books, desks, and quiet spaces. But at many Memphis branches, a new patron might be surprised at what they’d find. For example, the Cossitt Library contains a second-floor performance space, sound studios, and around the corner of the front desk, a cafe. The Raleigh Library overlooks a pond, and on its second floor, features a commercial kitchen for programming. In the ever-evolving world of libraries, the Memphis Public Libraries has become very innovative about what goes into a new library’s design.
Now approaching its one-year anniversary, the Orange Mound Library is no exception. Aside from books, reference desks, and study rooms, the Orange Mound Library occupies the historic, fully-restored Melrose High School, and contains a
genealogy center that already has helped longtime Orange Mound residents locate their ancestors. In the coming years, the building will also host senior housing on its second level. The branch is already a shining example of the rise of carefully considered, purposefully-designed library spaces in Memphis, built within the restored walls of a historic building cherished by the community.
Libraries have always needed to evolve to survive, adapting to ever-changing needs, new technologies, and societal shifts. And on a neighborhood level, a library is no longer a one-design-fits-all; an impactful library must reflect and respond to the community’s unique needs and desires. And in Orange Mound’s case, it ought to also honor its history.
Funded by the New Deal, it was constructed in 1938 at 843 Dallas Street. Melrose Schools combined with Park Avenue Schools into what is known today as Old Melrose High School. A culture quickly developed around it, centered around ‘The Four A’s’: Academics, Attendance, Attitude, and Athletics.
The school closed in 1979 due to dwindling attendance. It sat vacant for 40 years, and with decay setting in and no plans or backing in place to restore or activate the space, the City scheduled it for demolition in 2017. Orange Mound residents fought to save it, resulting in a compromise with park officials to eventually redevelop it. Ideas were
By Rebecca Stovall
The Making of the Orange Mound Library
Above: Old Melrose High School, pre-rescue. Top: The fully restored building transformed into the new Orange Mound Library, at 843 Dallas Street. May, 2024
photo by Mark Fleischer (MF)
photo by MPL
The Withers Collection. Right: 5 of Mr. Withers photos are on permanent display in the branch, including this iconic photo of Melrose HS and Memphis State basketball legend Larry Finch, one of Orange Mound’s favorite sons.
Before & After. Above and at topmiddle, the state of Melrose High School in 2017. Right, the interior just prior to renovation work. And far-right, restoration work is proudly on display just after its grand opening.
passed around about turning it into a community center, but it wasn’t until 2021, with an investment of $10 million by Accelerate Memphis, that the idea of a library was solidified. Congressman Steve Cohen, through the annual appropriations process, contributed another $3 million to the redevelopment, which ultimately cost a total of $16 million.
The process to fully transform it from abandoned high school to library, however, took a full team. “It was a combination of a number of architects, a lot of feedback from the community, and the wonderful contractors,” says Keenon McCloy, Director of Memphis Public Libraries. “It was a challenging process, but it turned out beautifully… it was really inspiring to watch.”
with Rosalind Withers and her curator, “I went through some of the catalog and told them what we were wanting inside,” says Parsons. “All the pictures told a story in some way. I wanted pictures of local celebrities that went to Melrose. I wanted ones pertaining to people going to school and some of the important buildings that were in the neighborhood during that time. And, you know, anything that was sports, anything that our younger generation could draw themselves into…”
Grand Opening: photos of the April, 2024 grand opening can be seen on this issue’s back cover
Signed on for the project were two top, award-winning firms that have worked on local historic, large-scale projects. Memphis-based architects Self + Tucker, the team behind the restoration of the Universal Life Insurance Building and currently working on the continued restoration of the Clayborn Temple, were signed on for the architectural design; for general contracting and construction, the work went to the team of Grinder, Taber, & Grinder, which most notably handled the massive 8-year restoration and transformation of Crosstown Concourse. Echoing those historic efforts, McCloy loved to see how the library’s origins informed the designs of the architects and contractors, transforming a piece of Orange Mound’s history into a legacy that will be enjoyed for generations to come. “There is so much love in Melrose and Orange Mound,” says McCloy. “It was truly overwhelming to see. People in their 60’s [from the community] were feeling like kids again…feeling like they mattered.”
The new library pays homage to its neighborhood roots is the collection of photos hung on its walls. As part of the thousands of his legendary photos of the civil rights era and Black culture, the late Ernest Withers also documented the mid-century life and history of Orange Mound. Part of this collection would be an essential part of the library’s design and would reinforce the building’s important sense of place. Tamika Parsons, Manager of the Orange Mound Library, helped choose the 5 photos purchased to adorn the library’s walls. Working
The collection melded with the historical element of the building. “The Orange Mound Library is unique,” says Christine Weinreich, Executive Director of the Memphis Library Foundation, “and the Withers Collection is unique. They needed to be tied together in that way…The citizens of Orange Mound see themselves or someone they know in those pictures.”
The Foundation took on the role of bringing some of the Wither’s collection into the library. “We have come in at the end [of the renovation], like we do,” Weinreich says, “and worked with the Withers Gallery. Orange Mound, being such a special place, worked with the Withers Gallery to ensure that the city has 5 pieces that they now own… We [The Foundation] helped facilitate the relationship between the library & the Withers Collection by providing a communication link between the gallery and the city regarding payment for the 5 purchased pieces. And we directly leased 26 additional pieces that hang in the library today.”
DIALOGUE
Shamichael Hallman Wants You, Everyone, to Meet at the Library
By Mark Fleischer, with Shamichael Hallman, Urban Libraries Council
ABOUT AN HOUR into an inspired yet cautionary ninety-minute video conversation, as our discussion turned toward concerns for libraries in the face of today’s volatile political climate and threats to federal and state funding, Shamichael Hallman’s passions pierced the computer screen like a reverend reaching the heights of a sermon.
“I think this is a moment for each of us to be fierce advocates for the public library. This is a moment for us to join friends [of the library] groups; to send Investments to library foundations; to write a letter to our local elected officials and say, Hey, don’t touch my library, this is important to me.”
Hallman’s plea and the environment that has galvanized it carry very real and immediate gravity on a national scale. His plea advocates for more widespread support of public libraries, one of the most important institutions in our society. Libraries, as Hallman reminds us, have direct impacts on literacy, our social fabric and human connections, our free and open access to information, and – these are no exaggerations – our very freedoms and our democracy.
If Shamichael Hallman looks and sounds familiar to you, you are probably a library customer or a patron. Or you were a frequent visitor downtown and you met him – you guessed it – at the library. Hallman was the senior library manager at the Cossitt Library from 2017 to 2022, overseeing the historic branch’s renovation and through the challenges of the pandemic in 2020.
Today he is Director of Civic Health and Economic Opportunity for the Urban Libraries Council in Washington, D.C. In 2022 and ’23 he completed the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University at the Graduate School of Design, where he worked with individuals involved in shaping the built environment – architects, urban planners, designers – and found his niche in bringing his public library background into asking questions about the role of public space.
And finally, Hallman last year published the book Meet Me at the Library, a Place to Foster Social Connection and Promote Democracy, which had its genesis and was informed by his work at Cossitt, with Harvard, with the Urban
Libraries Council, and in his travels to dozens of library systems around the country. Hallman sat down with me for a recorded video interview in early February of this year, calling in from his office outside Washington, D.C.
Mark Fleischer: In your book, I stopped in my tracks right at the first chapter, when I started reading this passage:
“In 2023, the office of the US surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H Murthy issued an advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. “When I first took Office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern. But that was before I embarked on a cross country listening tour, where I heard stories from my fellow Americans, that surprised me. People began to tell me, they felt isolated, invisible, and insignificant. And there’s data to back up the sentiments. A 2023 Gallup pole showed that 17 percent of US adults report experiencing significant loneliness ‘yesterday,’ projecting to an estimated 44 million people.”
MF: This was really disarming. And you frame the book around this epidemic of loneliness.
Shamichael Hallman: I found this while I was at Harvard doing the Loeb Fellowship. This report was released by the U.S. Surgeon General, called “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” and there’s a key part:
“This loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling. It harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”
So, he’s painting a very, very, very real picture of the impacts of loneliness, right? He goes on to say: “And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished. Given the
“This epidemic of loneliness is more than just a bad feeling . . . a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations. . .”
Above: Memphis leadership program students tour Cossitt with Shamichael Hallman (center) to offer renovation input.
profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis.”
MF: When we think of loneliness, we tend to think of the elderly, the older generation who are more isolated. But that is not the demographic that this study focuses on necessarily, is it? It’s more than just the older generation, right?
SH: Yes, surprisingly, it is the younger generation, the 18 to 25, the folks who perhaps are most connected in society, but who actually have the least amount of authentic relationships.
MF: And that can manifest itself in physical challenges, as you talked about, but also manifests itself in resentment and anger. And look at how that plays out on a daily basis.
SH: Yeah. I think what you see throughout their report is that higher levels of social connectedness leads to better outcomes and
look at them [saying] “I don’t get it, I can’t quite understand. I’ve never seen a cafe in the library before, I’ve never seen a recording space in a library.” And I’d say Okay, just meet me at the library concert tomorrow, I’ll show you around.
MF: When did you know you had the seeds for a book?
SH: Much of that happened through the Civic Commons Initiative. The work that we were able to do with Cossit was part of this larger initiative that was playing out in several other cities across the U.S., called Reimagining the Civic Commons. And Civic Commons is this really innovative model of looking at public space in a way that connects people of all backgrounds, tries to cultivate trust, and really create more resilient communities in a time when loneliness and distrust and segregation are on the rise. And in looking at and learning more about the Civic Commons . . . I started to think that the library could really step up here, [that the] library could really be a champion in the ways that it brought people together and that it sort of encouraged people to go back out into the community and do something.
“This is a moment for us to really understand the power of libraries, and really understand the value that libraries play in communities. And if the library was just a storehouse for books, where you can freely go and access information, that would be enough. At any point in history, that would be enough. But we know that the library is so much more than that.”
better community outcomes, population health, community safety, prosperity, representative government, resilience, depolarization. . . all these things, are directly tied back to the levels of connection that people have.
MF: The whole theme of connecting people, it’s summed up very well in your book title. “Meet me at the library.”
SH: I used that phrase so much when I was at Cossitt. [Library Director] Keenon [McCloy] was very adamant that during the renovation process that we stay downtown, to just make sure that people knew about Cossitt. So we had all these pictures, big renderings of what the building was going to look like, and we would be everywhere. We’d be outside FedEx Forum, we would be down on South Main, showing these pictures off. And people would
So we started trying to play around with the concepts at Cossitt. We started doing all sorts of events. One of them was this Civic Saturday gathering that we hosted downtown (funded by the Memphis Library Foundation), at Christian Brothers, Rhodes, the North [Library] branch, the South branch. And at Cossitt, we were doing all sorts of things . . concerts, yoga, storytimes, arts and crafts . .
And so I’m taking down notes and saying I think there’s something here. I think there’s something that the library is doing in terms of bringing people together and in terms of equipping people to be full citizens. I was going across the country and speaking to folks who maybe were not familiar with the library or any library and people said Oh, I had never really considered libraries in that way. I said I think there’s a story to be told here. I think there is a way of talking about libraries that maybe people
Shamichael Hallman
photo from Shamichael Hallman
Groundswell & MPL
Above: Rendering of the reimagining of Cossitt. Below: Mural by Anthony Lee dramatizing the court case that led to Cossitt Library’s desegregation in 1960; the completed Dos Hermanos Cafe; one of the seating areas of the new Cossitt. All photos below courtesy MPL
1This interview was recorded in early February of this year, before the president’s March 14 Executive Order directed at dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS), the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services. See the Memphis Library Foundation’s statement and information about this order, on page 7.
have not heard before.
MF: To the other part of your book, [from] the subtitle Promote Democracy. Eric Liu, in his forward, refers to the library as “the garden of democracy.” I love that idea because a garden is something you have to take care of. You have to cultivate it, you have to feed it.
SH: Eric Liu has written some really incredible books and one is called The Gardens of Democracy, where he talks about the tilling that has to happen. Libraries play such a critical role here. When I was at Harvard I got to come to D.C. and give a talk to the Urban Libraries Council - the folks that I that I work for now - and at the time that I came, they had just unveiled what they call a “Declaration of Democracy,” affirming the role that libraries play in a healthy democracy.
So, this Declaration of Democracy says this:
“Public libraries are critical cornerstones of democracy, and democracy’s future is diminished when people’s access to power, information, a diversity of voices and the ability to influence policy are restricted. The battle to protect democracy is a global struggle playing on the local level and libraries have landed on the front lines. Democracy can only thrive with strong community-level support and engagement.”
And it goes on to talk about what then does the library do? It says that “as trusted institutions in their communities . . .[libraries] commit to educating and informing the public about the right afforded to them in the U.S. Constitution. . . encouraging an active citizenry . . .serving as a convener and facilitator of civic engagement . . . increasing efforts to fight misinformation and disinformation . . . leveraging programming, collections and other resources to promote human dignity, open dialogue and respect for diverse viewpoints, civil rights, and all other protections and freedoms fundamental to democracies. . .”
And this paints a picture of the various things that libraries can do and should do.
MF: As a cornerstone of democracy, and in light of what we’re seeing in D.C., not only does the public library serve all of these purposes for patrons, but also inherently protects privacy and does not share patrons’ information. Patrons can engage in library programs, get a library card and check out books, and can do so with complete freedom.
SH: What you’re alluding to here is so important for the everyday person and really, in this moment. This is not a new thing here, to understand the importance of intellectual freedom. And that is a big word, but when we say that word, what we’re talking about here is that intellectual freedom is essentially the right of every individual to seek and receive and express information and ideas without
restriction, right? This is a fundamental principle of democracy, ensuring that people can access a diverse range of perspectives and knowledge and cultural expressions without censorship or undue influence.
The ability to go and get off the shelf whatever you would like on any given topic, to be able to find a diversity of thought about that topic, that is a bedrock piece of the library and what the library means. And then the second part of that is that you have the right to privacy and being able to read and research that topic.
In fact the American Library Association has what they coined as the Library Bill of Rights, and the very last right says that “all people regardless of origin, age, background, or views possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use.”
That’s something that regardless of where you are on the political ideological spectrum or religious spectrum. . . that right is something that we should be advocating for at all times.
MF: Amen to that. Lastly, since taking office the president seems to be following the socalled Project 2025 playbook, has so far1 issued dozens of executive orders, fired federal workers, and alarmingly, frozen trillions of federal dollars. What are your concerns as to the harms this could do, and that these tactics could influence our state and local governments and harm our local public institutions?
SH: As an author and as an individual, I think this is a moment for us to really understand the power of libraries, and really understand the value that libraries play in communities. Libraries are books, yes. And that in and of itself would be enough, right? And if the library was just a storehouse for books, where you can freely go and access information, and that information be private and secure, that would be enough. And that at any point in history. . that would be enough. But we know that the library is so much more than that.
I think this is a moment for the everyday citizen, each of us, to be fierce advocates for the public library. This is a moment for us to join friends [of the library] groups. This is a moment for us to send investments to library foundations; to write a check for $10, $25 or $30 to the Library Foundation; to write a letter to our local elected officials and say, Hey, don’t touch my library, this is important to me, I want this in my community.
Regardless of what’s happening on Capitol Hill in Washington, understand and recognize the amazing work that your library is doing. Memphis is a world-class library, an international model. There are people on the other side of the world that are looking at MPL saying we’ve heard about the amazing things that are happening in Memphis; recognize that work. I say all the time, your community is better if a library is there – whether you use it or not – just the fact that it is there is doing something for your community.
THE ORANGE MOUND ORAL HISTORIES
RECORDED from 2021 and into the spring of 2022 as part of the 901Voices Oral History Project, the History Department of the Memphis Public Libraries endeavored to capture the memories of African American matriarchs of Orange Mound. Their memories, preserved by the library for future generations, are a treasure trove
of personal stories and recollections that paint a tapestry of what historic Orange Mound was like in mid-century Memphis. In this small sampling, you will find everything from fond memories of the neighborhood and Melrose High School to stands for civil rights, segregation, the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., childhood traumas, and mental illness.* (see note on page 31)
I was raised in, on Park Avenue right there, the second house from Grand [Street]. My grandparents also lived on Park Avenue. It was wonderful growing up because I was there at my house, and then I would go up to my grandparents’ house where a lot of the children were. And I really enjoyed it.
I graduated from Melrose years and years ago, the class of 1959. We had so much freedom... it was just a carefree time. You were not afraid to walk. It was just a wonderful time.
We had two movie theaters in Orange Mound. We [were] just about, like, self [sustaining], you know, everything was here. We had a lot of businesses on Park Avenue. You had some white ownership of business, but you had a lot of Black. And almost anything you wanted was right here in the neighborhood. And we even had a fish market that was owned by a Black man, Mr. Clayban (sp?). And all other kind of businesses, restaurants, and ice cream. You had Mr. Bowling on Carnes. We had the, the you know, repair shop cars. And also, he had a filling station, you know, and you had lot. You had sundry stores. We had within a block starting about block up where we are now, you had three sundry stores, and we had grocery stores. We had fresh fruit food. Almost anything you wanted was right here in the neighborhood
“ “ “ “
About the Collection 901Voices, funded by the Plough Foundation through the Memphis Library Foundation, collects oral histories, reminiscences, and family stories from Memphians in order to enhance the Library’s Memphis and Shelby County Room’s local history collections. These oral histories not only preserve
Memphis history but also help build a stronger sense of community. For more information, and to peruse the entire collection, scan the QR code here.
Orange Mound used to be the center of everything for the Black community. If and when you came to Orange Mound, you did not have to leave out for anything. We had our Black doctors. We had our Black lawyers. We had gas stations that was owned by Blacks. And we had all kind of restaurants that was owned by Blacks. We had the, everything was there. We had the, where you go buy clothes and just everything.
So, on Park Avenue was just like the main attraction. Because they had a lot of food stores, beauty shops, doctor’s office, just the whole nine yards.
~Gwen Glover, b. 1941
NEIGHBORHOOD
We could walk to the Lamar Airway[s] shopping center from Pendleton to Lamar. And that was kind of an outing. You could go to the shopping center and that was a big deal to go treat yourself to the shopping center. And Handy Theatre. And Evensky’s (Evensky Big & Tall), the big man’s clothing store is still there. And that was a dry good store. And they had everything, like they had big men clothes too. You could buy overalls, big shoes.
And then there was a Whitten Brothers [Hardware Co.] on the corner of Haynes and Park, and it’s still there. That was the hardware store in Memphis. There was a plumbing shop. We had a lot of little mom and pop’s stores along the way.
~Sandra Cox, born 1941
We lived in a house that we didn’t even have a key to. You know, because we never locked our doors. And our toys, we never had to put a bike up. We never put up anything up, you know, you just left it there. I went to a neighbor’s house and opened the door and called inside. And [if they] didn’t answer, you pulled the door back up and you left.
~Arlena L. Brown-Shipp, b. 1945
After school, we would go to somebody’s house. And that was that was very normal back then, you know, somebody would watch you because the village raised you. And we were kind of raised by a village. If mom went home, somebody across the street, a neighbor, a cousin down the street, you stayed there till mom got home. And so, we kind of moved from house to house, you know when my mother wasn’t at home when we got home.
~Eunice Buffington, b. 1965
~Dorothy Washington, b. 1951
One of the things about growing up in a “city” called Orange Mound, and I keep saying that, because we are a city within a city. We had our own movie theatre, W.C. Handy movie theatre, located at the corner of Park and Airways, and we could go to the theatre. We also had our own record shop, our own cafeterias. We had our own grocery stores. We actually had two grocery stores, in the Lamar and Airways shopping center.
We had our own everything. We literally did not have to go out our neighborhood for anything. We would go maybe three or four more blocks to the bowling alley or the Hippodrome skating rink. We had everything we needed.
~Jacqueline Holland, b. 1962
Above, left: Booker’s Bakery at the northeast corner of Park and Baltimore, 1958.
Above, right: Buntyn Street, view south towards Park showing the street before curbs and gutters were installed, 1958.
... Just like my grandmama always said, “Mary Elizabeth, everybody who’s born was conceived the same way. So, it’s no way that somebody who was conceived just like you, me, [and] anybody else, could be better than you.”
She would talk about slavery - but it don’t mean that they were better - it just meant that they overpowered us. And we had to learn skills on how to survive. But she said being white don’t make you better. She said, don’t go for that.
They used to have a thing. If you’re white, you’re right. If you Black, you get back. You know, all that silly stuff. But my grandma said, you don’t get back from anybody. No oh no. You stand up. You be amenable, you be attentive, you learn, but you don’t [get back]. Uh-uh.
And when I was a docent at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, I would always sit on the front row and they said, “Well, Mary, why you always sit on the front row?” I said, “Because my grandma told me that when something going on and Black people can sit on the front row, you march right down to the front row. You sit, you listen and learn.” And I still sit on the front row, wherever I am in places like that.
SEGREGATION, CIVIL RIGHTS, DR. KING
The New York Philharmonic Symphony would come on every Saturday, every Sunday at 3pm. Every family at Melrose [High School] knew that their children had to take homework... by listening to them. We had to tell what the instrument was. We had to tell who the composer was. And the teachers would tell the parents, they have to look at this. Because we couldn’t go to a segregated symphony or classical things like that in Memphis. Black people couldn’t go. But we learned it anyway, because that’s the way we did it. And we would get grades on it. And we would know who they were and we would know ...the various symphonies.
~Mary Mitchell, b. 1936
didn’t move and whatever. And the bus driver said “You know, y’all gonna have to move back.” [laughting] And this man said, “Don’t you move. Don’t you all move. You, you not getting up. Don’t you move.” And Mama said, “Well...” But I’m just saying this was happening all of the time. [laughing] And I don’t think we moved that day. [laughing]
~Sandra Cox, born 1941
Dr. King? I do remember. Well, I was actually upstairs in the den... I heard this hard wrenching holler and a pan drop, and that’s when the breaking news came on and my mama just hollered out and we were like running down the stairs. And people on the outside the house were running. My brother was running in the house... And I remember my dad coming home and my mom just wasn’t, she just wasn’t no good... I remember the National Guard coming to our neighborhood. And because we had a shopping center across the street... because at that time of course, they were burning up everything. I remember them calling across the street, “Y’all need to go in the house!” Cause it was a curfew. [But] Our people in the neighborhood ... were not burning. We didn’t do the rioting and stuff like that.
It wasn’t new, unique what they did in Montgomery. When I put it, I think, cause this happened every day. And it happened in Memphis every day. “We not getting up. No, I’m not moving, I’m not moving.” You know, things like that. Then the bus driver say, “Well, I’m-a get over here. I’m-a call the police.” But he never would do it [laughing]. He never would do it. So... he wouldn’t. I know they were relieved when they did finally do what they’re supposed to do. Because it was so much that happened. And [back] then we had primarily white bus drivers. Now we have nothing but Black bus drivers. [laughing] But you know, that was a heck-of-a job, because it was tension all the time. You know, all the time was tension. I remember one time we were on the bus. We lived here in Orange Mound then, and we were going downtown, my mom and myself, and one of my friends, and we were sitting there on that seat. And so, we, I don’t know, we didn’t think about it,
~Jacqueline Holland, b. 1962
I had [my daughter] and my [ex]husband, and we were at home. And when the National Guard came and made sure that we were not outside, you know, they would come up. We had an incident. My [ex] husband’s friend, they had stopped him right across from our house. And we came out in the yard. And the National Guard ran up on the grass where we were and made us go in the house. And if you can imagine a man being talked to the way he was, that’s just degrading, you know, but we went in the house. But it was an awful thing... just an awful time.
~Margaret Williams, b.1946
Well, I’m going to tell you that the things that I would say was a drag is when they started closing our pools1, our theaters. You know, things like that, that we were accustomed to, having the Handy Theater... So, all of those things were negative because we just couldn’t get the same amount of recreation that we had. But those were the things that I would think really hurt.
~Arlena L. Brown-Shipp, b. 1945
The city councilmen and all of that sold our park, half of the park1 They destroyed our Olympic size swimming pool, and they said that they was going to give us another pool. And that’s been over 60 years ago, 70 years ago, but we haven’t got the pool yet, but the park is still there.
~Gwen Glover, b. 1941
1Despite strong community opposition, an acre portion of the park was sold in February 1966 by the city commission to Mid-South Refrigerated Warehouse Co. This portion included the pool, which was closed after a 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Watson v. City of Memphis, which ordered that all city parks be immediately desegregated.
Above, left: The Commercial Appeal front page, May 23, 1961. (Proquest Historical Newspapers courtesy the Memphis Public Libraries)
Above, right: 6 of the 13 LeMoyne College students arrested by Memphis Police for visiting the then-segregated Brooks Memorial Art Gallery in Overton Park on March 22, 1960. The Commercial Appeal
“
901VOICES: ORANGE MOUND
I never, never, never... I didn’t even know I was poor. I didn’t know we were poor until I went to - back in the day, it was Memphis State - when I went to Memphis state. Matter of fact, I graduated from Memphis State and they told me that I was from a low socioeconomic background. And that I was below the poverty level. Well, that was the first time I had ever heard that, you know. I was getting three meals a day. And I didn’t miss Easter. I didn’t miss Christmas. Went to school with all my supplies and, you know, had a dress to change every day. So, I didn’t ever think that I was poor. My mom made sure we had plenty to eat. I never was hungry. So, I just didn’t ever feel like I was poor. You know, until they told me [laughing] that federally, I was below the poverty level. And so that I was poor.
~Arlena L. Brown-Shipp, b. 1945
My dad worked different jobs. He worked on the railroad a while. He worked over here at the Defense Depot where I eventually worked. And then when he retired, he did yards, you know, lawn keeper or whatever you call it, for different people in Memphis.
My mom, when I was smaller growing up, she worked at First Tennessee Bank at night cleaning up. And then she did what they used to call day work. She worked at different houses, different places. And she helped a caterer. She worked with her and did different things like that. When she retired, I think when she retired she was doing day work.
invited in that. One of her favorite artists was Jackie Wilson. If Jackie Wilson was on American Bandstand, you had to be quiet. We loved it because she would get up and she would dance around and we would laugh.
We would block our street off and put the music on. Everybody put their little players on the same station, and we literally had block parties in the neighborhood. That’s what we did. We didn’t know nobody else was. I mean, it wasn’t happening just in my neighborhood. It was happening like five streets down. It was just a Black thing, I guess. It was a cultural thing that we did.
~Jacqueline Holland, b. 1962
One of [my mother’s] jobs that I remember fondly: she was a cook at the Sam Shaw2, which was called the Sam Shaw Review2 back in the day. And it used to be a club. And it was the up-and-coming place for African Americans artists of any type. And so, it was like the showcase. If you were a singer, if you were a dancer, if you were an artist, the Sam Shaw Review2 was like the showcase where you could showcase your your talent and it in the African American community. And my mother worked there. So, at a young age, I met so many artists: Isaac Hayes, the Funky Chicken Man3 that I met when I was three and four years old.
So, they were, we were, we were considered, I guess, poor. But we didn’t know we were poor. We had just about everything we needed.
When you say you’re from Orange Mound, you said something. It meant something. It meant something to us. To most of the kids that grew up in Orange Mound, we went to church together, school together, and other things.
~Margaret Williams, b.1946
OM LIVING
You know, they called one of my uncles the Mayor of Orange Mound. Because he never left Orange Mound. He was born in Orange Mound. And he never left. He was a very active type person. Very personable too. Everybody knew him. And, and after he retired, he opened up a little hot dog stand1 down the street here. They called it Bradley’s. It’s the one the lady Mrs. Bradley owned. And she sold it to him. And she had this special recipe for slaw. And she, she told him so he could keep making the slaw.
~Sandra Cox, b. 1941
My grandmother cooked some of the prettiest, biggest cakes you ever want to see. We loved to sit in her tearoom. We loved to be
Above,
of Park and David, 1958. (Courtesy http://cremedememph.blogspot.com)
1She’s referring to her uncle Tyler Glover, who opened a restaurant in 1982 at 2481 Park Ave. He was informally known as the mayor of Orange Mound. The restaurant was at the same location as Bradley’s Cafe, which closed in 1980. Bradley’s Cafe was owned by Leola Bradley.
2a listing in the 1971 City Directory for Shaw’s Sundry at 2349 Park Ave; next to that business at 2353 Park Avenue is the Showcase Lounge.
3She’s referring to Rufus Thomas, well known for doing the Funky Chicken.
~Eunice Buffington, b. 1965
We had a lot of young, especially young men, who were in our band that eventually went on to music. And they were in different groups. You know the Bar-Kays had a lot of Melrose people [at Stax] and a lot of the, what do they call, the background band? A lot of those guys were from Melrose. Mr. Green, who was our band teacher, he played in a band outside. They called him “Tuff.” [Richard] “Tuff” Green4 He played a lot. So, we had a lot of musicians that came from Orange Mound. We had a young man who, we called him “Nokie.” William “Nokie” Taylor5, played for Stax. He was like a background player, and he played trumpet. You know, everybody knew Taylor. And Sam Jones6 and Harold Jones6 , they had a group. They were all from Melrose.
But at the Handy, we would go to see movies and, you know, sit at the step there all day with the cowboy movies and all of that. And they would have shows way back in the, I guess forties, fifties like that. And then they made it a club. The Showcase. It was a different thing. But we would go up to the Handy Theatre on Saturdays and we’d go and watch the cowboy movies and all that.
~Margaret Williams, b.1946
Above, right: The W.C. Handy Theatre opened in 1947, at 2355 Park Avenue, east of Airways. It was demolished in 2012. (various sources)
4Richard “Tuff” Green played a significant role in the rise of Memphis blues and rock ‘n’ roll in the late 1940’s and ‘50’s. A bass player from Mississippi, his bandmates included Phineas Newborn Sr., Ben Branch, and the legendary Willie Mitchell.
5Another legend in Memphis music, William “Nokie” Taylor’s trumpet playing can be heard on multiple Isaac Hayes recordings, including Shaft
6Sam Jones was part of the Memphis soul group The Astors. Margaret may be referring to Harold Johnson, who joined The Astors in their later years.
left: Melrose Grocery and Market at the northeast corner
THE MEMPHIS ROOM
A Long-Time Orange Mound Resident Looks Back on Her Civil Rights History in a Segregated Memphis
By Kyle Liotta
IN HIS BOOK African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound (see facing page 25), Charles Williams, Jr. describes how the former land for Deaderick Plantation became one of the first subdivisions dedicated to African Americans in an American city.
Plans for Orange Mound in 1890 included “extremely narrow streets, ”built with “shotgun housing,” where one could see from the front to the back doorways as if it was the barrel of a gun. While the Deaderick family sold the land with the condition of not giving it to the Black population, the buyer, Elzey Eugene Meacham, sold land to Black Americans “for less than one hundred dollars a plot.” With few other options for Black residents at the time, Orange Mound developed into a tight-knit proud subdivision, with family, community, and perseverance as a center point. Still, segregation and racism created persistent problems. The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, a nationwide New Deal-sponsored corporation, invented the redlining system to stop mortgage insuring in “hazardous” neighborhoods, which meant non-white neighborhoods like Orange Mound did not receive any investment from lenders. Even if racist forces colluded in pushing back progress, Orange Mound residents took up the mantle to make a new home for their future families, creating such institutions as the Orange Mound Civic Club, various churches, and Melrose High School. Melrose graduated many students, including Gwen Glover, a participant in the Civil Rights Movement.
In her oral interview, Gwen Glover remembers how the community in Orange Mound acted like a family. Between her and her twelve other siblings, many of the children in her neighborhood always came over for fun or to wait for the game at Melrose’s stadium, “like a big, big party.”
EXPLORE THE PAST. INFORM THE PRESENT. SHAPE THE FUTURE. Dig Memphis is the digital archive of the Memphis Public Libraries, showcasing many of the treasures found in the Memphis and Shelby County Room. We have over 20,000 items in 30 different collections. Search the Dig Memphis database directly. Results can be filtered by type of material, subject, and more.
TALES FROM THE MEMPHIS & SHELBY COUNTY ROOM
Even then, Glover knew about racism surrounding Orange Mound, as she heard the story of the police beating a man to death under Airways. She soon enrolled at S. A. Owen College to take courses on religion and philosophy, but one thing kept a conversation over there: The Sit-In movement.
While many students talked about it, it took Marion Barry visiting Owen College to recruit for the sit-ins. Glover found herself dressed nicely and with two dollars in her pocket, sitting at the white counter at McCroy’s on Main Street. While scared, Glover and the others did not leave the counter until closing. Her next sit-in involved the McLean Library on March 1st, 1960, where Glover and others found themselves arrested for sitting down and reading books.
That did not deter Glover, as she protested in the segregated Overton Park and various other places in Memphis, arrested each time for doing so. After graduation from Owen, she continued her education at the still-segregated Memphis State University.
In the Memphis and Shelby County Room, within the History/Social Sciences Department on the 4th floor of the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, researchers may view items from the library’s archival and manuscript collections. These include historical records of people and families, maps, photographs, newspaper files, books, and music and video recordings. These materials document the development of the community, government, economy, culture, and heritage of Memphis & Shelby County,
Frustrated at the lack of opportunities, Glover became a leader to desegregate the university. Glover and thirty-nine other students sat-in the president’s office in protest and were later arrested, but this did not stop them until the university desegregated about a year later.
After college Glover did not stop her Civil Rights work; once she saw segregated bathrooms in the Memphis Kellogg’s plant, she wrote letters to her supervisors who later integrated the whole plant. Glover
is still alive today, with DIG Memphis offering her oral interview for the public.
Those moments of struggle are points of pride for her, as Glover and others in Orange Mound became a source of change for Memphis and for the United States.
“Shotgun houses” line a street in Orange Mound. (photo from WKNO-TV)
photo by Jamie Harmon
Memphis Street Railway Co. map of 1945. African American sections are shaded. The numbers indicate the electric streetcar lines - the numeral ‘2’ represents the Madison Avenue, East End line.
A CLOSER LOOK: Who was E.E. Meacham?
By Mark Fleischer
WHY WOULD A WHITE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER and the son of a cotton merchant purchase portions of a former plantation and subdivide it into housing lots for sale to African Americans - many of them descendants of the formerly enslaveddespite the specific condition that he not sell any of the land to “Negroes?”
For this reader, the question emerges early on in African American Life and Culture in Orange Mound by Dr. Charles Williams, as it recounts the 1889 sale of parts of the Deaderick Plantation to wealthy Memphis land owner Elzey Eugene (E.E.) Meacham, who, within months of his purchase, began marketing the land to African Americans.
“For reasons that will probably never be known,” the author writes, “Meacham converted the property into a well-structured subdivision for African Americans of Memphis and Shelby County who so desperately needed adequate and affordable housing.”
As mentioned throughout this magazine, Dr. Williams landmark book is the goto account of the history of the Orange Mound community through its first century. With a PhD in anthropology, Dr. Williams approached his study employing a traditional anthropological practice of “Cultural Immersion,” spending much of 1979 and 1980 in the neighborhood going door-todoor, gaining trust, and talking to residents
about their ancestry and experiences growing up in the community.
His 2013 enthography is easily the most definitive accounting of the neighborhood’s history and now a treasured record of the residents and families he interviewed.
But to the question of why E.E. Meacham would defy the Deaderick’s wishes on the issue of not selling to African Americans, a look into Meacham’s history, though not revealing verifiable answers, provides many speculative clues.
Meacham’s early wealth came from his father, M.L. Meacham, who was a cotton trader in Memphis dating to the earliest years of the city, and who founded the Union and Planters Bank and Trust Company of Memphis. Upon his father’s death, E.E. Meacham engaged in the buying and selling of undeveloped land and “was one of the first men to become interested in suburban development and speculation, creating several of what are now subdivisions in [ ] Memphis.”1 These early subdivisions were predominantly Black, as they are today.
He purchased the Deaderick Plantation within a period “from 1870 to 1910 that coincided with one of the biggest jumps in Black homeownership rates in United States history... [and] Meacham may have sensed an untapped and ready-made market”2 as formerly enslaved citizens of the rural South were flocking to cities in search of work. Orange Mound was also not yet
within Memphis city limits, safely distanced from the racial violence that plagued Black neighborhoods (including the infamous 1866 Memphis Massacre).
“Meacham and his entire family had always been involved in community affairs. [His] father... had been deeply involved in his church,”3 and over his lifetime, E.E. Meacham is said to have built 20 churches, including one for each of his subdivisions.4
“It [also] appears as though he had some knowledge of Black History and the contributions they had made in America up to that time. In some cases the street names (in his subdivisions) relate directly to Black History while in other cases the names relate indirectly, in a somewhat abstract manner.”5
As for Orange Mound, Meacham named it for the osage orange bushes that flourished on its eastern edge. The wood of the osage is extremely durable, resistant to most decay, and was used in some early construction in the neighborhood.
Several streets in Orange Mound are named after his family members by their first names; the street Elzey, in Midtown, is named for him.
Meacham also made substantial investments in New York, where he and his family lived after 1900, and later in Florida. Meacham died there in 1931 at age 82. Sadly, he died alone, in grief, having outlived his children and his wife. But his work benefitting the Black community lives on.
This advertisement from the November 20, 1894, Commercial Appeal (courtesy of cremedememph.blogspot.com and Newsbank)
Map furnished by MPL History Department
1945 map provided by the Memphis & Shelby County Room
FROM THE STACKS
Staff Picks: Memphis on Our Minds
Memphis Rent Party: The Blues, Rock & Soul in Music’s Hometown by Robert Gordon I majored in history and knew tons of cool facts about different centuries in different countries — but I knew very little about the city where I was born and raised. Now, I make it a point to learn as much as I can and Robert Gordon’s books have been the most fun history lessons I’ve ever had. If you love music, this book is for you. Legends and little known culture shakers are explored in bite-sized chapters. By the time you’re done, you’ll see the same beauty in Memphis history that Mr. Gordon does.
~Shemeeka Hollywood Library
Soulsville, USA: The Story of Stax Records by Rob Bowman
The book is a look at the history of the world famous Stax Records and the many artists who came to fame under the Stax umbrella. But more than that, the book provides a history of Memphis during segregation and details the rise of this record company, founded by a white brother/ sister duo, in the middle of an all Black community in the 60’s.
~Juanita
Hollywood Library
May in Memphis
If you could choose one book to serve as an introduction to Memphis, what would it be?
For this issue we invited the MPL staff and library volunteers to tell us which book they’d pull from their shelves to best introduce Memphis to a Bluff City neophyte. The books discussed here would be well placed with other Memphismusts like Robert A. Sigafoos’ Cotton Row to Beale Street, the volumes of history in Paul Coppock’s books, the books of Wayne Dowdy, Joan Turner Beifuss’ At the River I Stand, Hampton Sides’ Hellhound On His Trail, Preston Lauterbach’s Beale Street Dynasty, Otis L. Sanford’s From Boss Crump to King Willie, and of course, Mr. Gordon’s (left) other classic It Came From Memphis.
Battling the Plantation Mentality by Laurie B. Green
I recommend this book to anyone living in Memphis, considering a move here, or to any fans of the city worldwide who may also have an interest in history, civil rights, and critical notions of freedom. This book explores the role of Memphis in the modern civil rights movement. What I appreciate most about this book is how the author looks beyond the mid twentieth century to inform readers about the “plantation mentality” that forced cultural innovations in the city, such as the formation of the first Black police force. This intricately researched piece will leave readers with a greater understanding of how the same plantation mentality rules many parts of the city still today.
~Leila Central Library
Memphis and the Paradox of Place: Globalization in the American South by Wanda Rushing
The first book about Memphis I picked up when I moved here in 2015, Ms. Rushing’s study provided a telling foundation from which to understand Memphis behind its myths and complexities. It is an in-depth look at Memphis culture, politics, and history, and more, a study in Memphis as a vitally important place. It explores the city’s sense of self, its sometimes blurred visions of a New South metropolis at the tip of the Mississippi Delta behind its relationships with and causalities of generational poverty, its civil rights legacy, and the dual tragedies of Dr. King in 1968 and Elvis in 1977. ~Mark Central Library
It’s Good to be the King ... Sometimes by Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler with Doug Asheville I chose this book is because of the legendary career Jerry Lawler made for himself in Memphis. Lawler talks about the territorial history of Memphis wrestling. He talks
Guralnick
Peter Guralnick’s Last Train to Memphis is an in depth and emotional account of Elvis Presley’s rise to stardom. This book is a must read for anyone moving to Memphis and curious as to why Graceland is one of the most visited homes in the country. Guralnick’s biography is meticulously researched and full of personal accounts and interviews detailing Elvis’ early life up to his induction in the army. Don’t let the heft of this book scare you away, it’s a real page turner that will have you longing to check out the second volume, Careless Love.
~Taryn Second Editions Bookstore
about all other Memphis wrestlers and wrestling promoters that inspired him to become a wrestler. This book is great for wrestling fans especially those in Memphis that want to learn how he earned the “King of Memphis” nickname. Jerry Lawler was also a booker for Memphis Wrestling, so he mentioned what it was like running the show, and all that it takes to make it run smoothly. This book talks about the ups and downs it took for Jerry Lawler to become a household name not only in Memphis, but also in the WWE.
~Jordon Whitehaven Library
Last Train to Memphis by Peter
BOOK TALK
By Stephen Usery
THE MURDER mentioned in this book’s title is the 1955 torture and killing of 14-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till, who was visiting family in Mississippi. It is one of the most notorious crimes of the Civil Rights era, if not all of American history. Award-winning journalist and author Wright Thompson grew up just a few miles from the barn in question, but he wouldn’t learn that fact until adulthood. The Barn isn’t a recounting of just the murder and subsequent trials. It sets this crime in context of the economic forces which enabled and encouraged slavery and Jim Crow. It also looks at the long-lasting impact the murder had on Till’s family and friends and how the efforts to preserve his memory have had to fight against hate and erasure.
This is an excerpt from WYPL’s radio program Book Talk, and it has been edited for clarity and length.
Stephen Usery: Section 2, Township 22 North, Range 4 West. What and where is it?
Wright Thompson: That is a 36-squaremile block of land in Sunflower County, roughly hemmed in by the Bolivar County line, the Drew to Merigold Road, the Drew to Rossville Road, and Highway 8, and it is where the barn where Emmett Till was killed is located. It is where Nathan Bedford Forrest once marched his cavalry. It is where Dockery Farms, where so much American music was born, is. And it is one of, if not the last place to be settled in the lower 48. It was uninhabited hardwood swamps after the OK Corral and a decade and a half after the Census Bureau declared the frontier closed.
SU: And that phrase “Section 2, Township 22 North, Range 4 West” is repeated over and over, like a refrain that goes through the book.
WT: Yeah, I wanted to say it so many times that it became an incantation, almost stripped of its geographic meaning and reinterpreted with a metaphysical meaning, so that every time I said that we knew what we were talking about, and it wasn’t just the square of land, but all of the money and the forces and the people and what all of that, what the center of that Venn diagram, what it represented.
SU: You do try so hard to put it in context for what leads up to that point, and the reverberations of that two or three days
from Emmet Till’s interaction with Carolyn Bryant to his torture and murder.
WT: I certainly didn’t realize, for instance, that, you know, there was a really fiercely contested Mississippi gubernatorial election in 1955. Brown v Board was 1954. Everybody just ignored it. So, a lot of people don’t realize the Supreme Court had to do it again the next year, called Brown II. It’s the famous Thurgood Marshall [phrase], “all deliberate speed.” The Supreme Court had to tell everyone that they actually had to obey their previous decision. So, as you can imagine, the entire governor’s election was about this issue.
I mean, they said wild stuff on the stump. I mean, really, really, you know, a lot of talk of bayonets, rhetorically violent speech. That election was on a Tuesday, and less than twenty-four hours later on a Wednesday, is when Emmett Till and his cousins and friends went to the store in Money, MS. So the link between political rhetoric [is there] whipping the [white] population up into a frenzy and violence in Mississippi. You know, John F. Kennedy [gave his] famous civil rights speech, and the next day, Medgar Evers gets shot. I mean, they’ve always been connected.
SU: You are related to the land and the white people of that area and grew up there. And you talk about how erasure happened and how you were not educated to this terrible happening when you were young.
WT: It just wasn’t talked about. My Mississippi history class, you know, called the Civil War, “The War of Northern Aggression.” I mean, we certainly weren’t learning about Emmett Till. And, you know, I grew up in a very politically active house, and my father was a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser. We had a cross burned in our front yard in 1982. And yet . . . there’s still pieces of history that were unspoken.
One of the reasons I wanted to do this book is to write a true history of the Mississippi Delta, and you know, noted and footnoted within an inch of its life. Because if you’re unwinding myths, I think it’s important to show your work. And so there’s not a single fact in this book that you can’t go to the back and find out where it comes from, because I felt like that was very important, because I do want to change skeptical people’s minds.
SU: Why would Emmett Till’s mother allow him to come to Mississippi in the 1950s? WT: She didn’t want to. He desperately wanted to come with his cousin, Wheeler
LISTEN HERE:
Parker [Jr.]. Moses Wright, who they were coming to visit, promised her they wouldn’t go into town. She did not want him to come to Mississippi. He had only ever lived in Chicago - there were many things he didn’t know. She was trying to explain to him the rules, like you can’t make eye contact with white people, like, you know, all the rules. And he said, It can’t be that bad, Mama. And she was like, it’s worse than that. She was just worried that he was a teenage boy who didn’t understand the forces swirling around him. And she was right, by the way.
SU: And the barn stands to this day.
WT: The property has changed hands several times, but the barn is still there. The guy who owns it is lovely. He’s very kind to scholars and people who want to come see it. I mean, it’s being turned into a memorial as we speak. The TV producer, Shonda Rhimes, is heavily involved in that. She’s really something, puts her money where her mouth is, but it’s in the process of being turned into some sort of memorial. But right now, it’s just a barn.
WYPL BOOK TALK ON PODBEAN Wright Thompson, THE BARN
Author Wright Thompson photo by Evan France, Lyseumagency.com
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
By Wright Thompson Penguin Press
The Men Behind the Orange Mound Mural
By Tajuana Fulton
JAVARIAN SEALS IS A FRESHMAN at Melrose High School, on the football team, and—thanks to muralist Brandon Marshall—immortalized as the face of the present in Orange Mound. You’ll find Javarian portrayed with arms out in an intentionally Christ-like position, one hand in the past and one stretching towards the future. In real life and in art, Javarian is a bridge between the past and the hope of the future, coming into his own and making decisions for the betterment of his future, much like the community he lives in.
Brandon met Javarian when he moved in across the street from Javarian’s family, and he watched Javarian grow up over the 8 years that he lived in Orange Mound. Javarian represents the community that Brandon wanted to highlight in his mural. Throughout his time living in Orange Mound, from 2010 to 2018, Brandon felt very embraced by the community. “In Orange Mound, your neighbor is your neighbor. You guys are really going to have a bond. It’s beautiful.” Javarian and his friends came to see the mural, taking pictures with it, laughing and enjoying themselves. Brandon said, “They’re important, and I want them to know that.”
(the full mural can be seen inside the back cover)
The left side of the mural depicts the past: people with a hopeful expression, in clothes from the turn of the century, looking towards the center. Brandon emphasized the historical weight of the community and how he tried to infuse that history into the piece, a visual representation of the hopes of the neighborhood—vitality, ownership, and a place to belong.
The right side of the piece is the theoretical future: a family and two keys—one dated and one more modern—representing continued ownership and commitment to the community. This is Brandon’s wish for Orange Mound to continue to be the community that embraced him, encouraged him, and gave him a home.
MPL is Going to the Dogs
By Andrea Bledsoe King
YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HER at different library branches, and though you may not know her name, you would certainly recognize her by the fluffy little dog accompanying her.
Juana McCoy and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Lovie, have been integral parts of MPL since 2018. Juana claims she is just Lovie’s leash holder, but Juana gets great joy when library patrons are constantly greeting her furry companion.
Interviewed last year for a feature with WREG Channel 3, Juana admits you’re not going to get too far into the library without a little love from Lovie. Juana realized the great potential of Lovie’s being a therapy dog around six years ago.
When kids read one-on-one to Lovie, Juana says, they aren’t so nervous; they are relaxed and comfortable because they are reading to a dog that does not judge or criticize. “They’re reading, they’re learning, they’re working on skills, but they don’t really realize it because they’re having fun.”
Scientifically speaking, people are soothed by therapy dogs; the release of serotonin and dopamine from interacting with them fights the stress hormone, cortisol, and calms the brain. Kids especially will pick up on this vibe and want to read to Lovie.
Juana and Lovie are stationed at the Benjamin L. Hooks library, but they make their rounds across our 18 branches. Juana has fashioned various programs where Lovie is the star. Their empassioned efforts scored them the City of Memphis’ Employee of the Month for January of 2024.
Besides her canine companion, Juana has another claim to library fame: she is still in possession of her first library card, issued from the Millington Public Library in 1956. No, she can no longer use it to check out materials, but for Juana the library card holds fond memories. She has always loved the library, she says, and always wanted to be part of it. “This was a period of my life where the library was a safe, secure place. I loved the library. The librarians took the time to know me and my family.” Always a talker, Juana said, the librarians were always telling her, “Be quiet. Juana, be quiet.”
Juana began her involvement with therapy dogs after retiring from a career in retail. “I read an article
PASSIONS
about pet therapy. Lilah [Lovie’s predecessor] was my dog then. She had the temperament to be a therapy dog. She was used to people and was a former show dog. I would take her to a lot of medical facilities. She was adored by all. Lovie had a bad start in life before I took her in. She was scared of people for a while, so she had to go at her own pace. Eventually she was ready and flew through the certification test. So many people were there to support her. Lovie now accompanies me to libraries, Trezevant Manor, and 201 (Poplar) Mental Health Court. She goes to a lot of medical facilities, as well.”
Juana brings the same support to the library. And specifically, to children. So many kids have trouble learning to read and write, she says. “But if I can bring Lovie to them, they will have a jumpstart to a better day. The kids are having fun and learning without realizing it. It’s a service, I think.”
Juana McCoy is one of the most recognizable employees at MPL. Her fluffy, four-legged companion, Lovie, may be just a tail ahead.
Artist Brandon Marshall photo by MPL
Javarian Seals depicted on the mural (photo by Mark Fleischer)
photo by MPL
Above: Juana’s 1956 library card. Right: Juana, appearing on WREG’s “Bright Spot” segment, in September of 2024.
MADLIBS:
Memphis Library
Adventure Mad Libs!
Never played Mad Libs? It’s easy. One person, the “reader,” asks the other player to provide words for each blank, without reading or revealing the story’s context. Once each blank is filled, the reader reads the story out loud. Laughter ensues!
Hey there, library explorer! Today was a(n) __________ (adjective) day at the __________ (adjective) Memphis Public Library!
As soon as I walked through the doors, I saw a __________ (animal) reading a book about __________ (plural noun)!
I knew it was going to be a(n) __________ (adjective) visit.
First, I went to the __________ (room in a building) to check out a __________ (adjective) book about __________ (favorite hobby or interest). The librarian, __________ (person’s name), helped me find it with a big __________ (adjective) smile.
Next, I joined a program where we learned how to __________ (verb) like real __________ (plural noun)! We even got to use __________ (funny object) to help us practice.
Then, I went to the Teen Innovation Center to build a __________ (adjective) __________ (type of machine) that could __________ (verb) faster than a(n) __________ (fast animal)!
It was __________ (adjective) and made everyone say __________ (silly exclamation)!
Before I left, I made sure to grab a __________ (adjective) snack from the café and high-five the library mascot, __________ (silly name), who was dressed as a __________ (funny costume).
I can’t wait to come back next time and explore more about __________ (exciting topic) at the library!
The End!
ISSUE II CONTRIBUTORS
“My Naturalization Experience” by Gretchen Wilwayco. Gretchen Wilwayco is a Customer Service Assistant at the Cordova Library.
“Connecting Stories to the Sartorial” by Beth Thorne. Beth Thorne is a Circulation Supervisor at the Poplar-White / Officer Geoffrey Redd Library.
“A Cossitt Comeback Shines Bright for the Community” by Antonio Edwards. Antonio Edwards is a Library Programming Specialist at the Cossitt Library.
“The New Raleigh Library Keeps Suprising” by Sara Priddy. Sara Priddy is a Public Services Supervisor at the Raleigh Library.
“Breathing New Life Into Old Melrose High School, the Making of the Orange Mound Library” by Rebecca Stovall. Rebecca Stovall is a Project Specialist with MPL’s Connect Crew.
“Helping Memphians Discover Their Heritage Thru Genealogy, and Passion” with Skyler Gambert. Skler Gambert is a Customer Service Librarian at the Orange Mound Library.
“MPL is Going to the Dogs” by Andrea Bledsoe King. Andrea King is an Adult Services Specialist at the Cordova Library.
TALES FROM THE MEMPHIS & SHELBY COUNTY ROOM: “A Long-Time Orange Mound Resident Looks Back on Her Civil Rights History in a Segregated Memphis” by KYLE LIOTTA. Kyle Liotta is a Librarian Assistant in the History Department at the Central Library. He has a Master’s Degree in Library Science and a Bachelor of Science of History from Middle Tennessee State University. His honor’s thesis, The Workman’s Pay: The Effects of the Louisville & Nashville’s Workshop on the Local Economy in Paris, Tennessee, from 1900 to 1958, was published in 2021 by the University Honors College, Middle Tennessee State University.
“A Conversation with Mary Mitchell” and “The Men Behind the Mural,” by Tajuana Fulton. Tajuana Fulton is the Manager of the Randolph Library. She has represented MPL at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX Conference 2023 (“The Other Side of the Street: Urban Fiction in Public Libraries”) and the Public Library Association Conference 2024 (“African American is Not a Genre: Collecting and Promoting Black Books”). Her writing credits include “30 Days of Social Justice: Precision of Language” (YALSA Blog, December 2016) and “African American is Not a Genre” (Public Libraries Magazine, July/August 2024).
“Interview With Two Librarians” Interview by Laurel Phillips. Laurel Phillips is a Rhodes College student majoring in philosophy and English literature. Through Rhodes’ Summer Service Fellowship, Laurel interned with the Memphis Library Foundation in 2024 for an eight-week initiative in which students intern at a Memphis nonprofit of their choice. Following her fellowship she extended her work by serving as the designated writing fellow for Professor Scott Newstok’s librarythemed First-Year Writing Seminar, “Unpacking the Library: From Alexandria to AI.”
BOOK TALK, with STEPHEN USERY. Stephen Usery is the Broadcast Services Manager for The Library Channel TV-18 and FM 89.3 WYPL. He is the host and producer of Book Talk, a syndicated interview program that airs weekly on FM 89.3 WYPL and as a podcast, available for streaming on various platforms and via Podbean, https:// wyplbooktalk.podbean.com/
PHOTO CREDITS, NOTES, SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOURCES: “A CLOSER LOOK: Who was E.E. Meacham?” page 25
1 “Meacham Park: A History, 1892-1989” by Lonnie R. Speer, in collaboration with Bill Jones & Garnet Thies, (c) 1998, page 10
2 “How the Real Estate Boom Left Black Neighborhoods Behind” by Vanessa Gregory, New York Times Magazine, November 18, 2021.
3 “Meacham Park: A History, 1892-1989” by Lonnie R. Speer, in collaboration with Bill Jones & Garnet Thies, (c) 1998, page 15
4 “E.E. Meacham (& M.M. Gilchrist)” by Josh Whitehead, February 15, 2021, for his cremedememph.blogspot.com
5 “Meacham Park: A History, 1892-1989” by Lonnie R. Speer, in collaboration with Bill Jones & Garnet Thies, (c) 1998, page 15
**901VOICES THE ORANGE MOUND ORAL HISTORIES, pages 20-23. These quotes Readers are asked to bear in mind that they are reading a transcript of the spoken word, rather than written prose.
Statement on Potentially Harmful Content: These original documents and materials were created at the time a historical event occurred and may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions. As a result, some of the items in DIG Memphis contain content that may be harmful or difficult to view, including language reflective of systemic racism, sexism, and homophobia. DIG Memphis and the Memphis Room are committed to preserving items of historical significance and presenting material in a manner that does not compromise the historical accuracy of items found within our collections.
BACK COVER. Photos courtesy of the Memphis Public Libraries, Friday, April 26, 2024, for the grand opening of the Orange Mound Library.
MPL UNBOUND, a publication of the MEMPHIS LIBRARY FOUNDATION
MPL UNBOUND is published seasonally to coincide with a calendar of key Memphis Public Libraries and Memphis Library Foundation events.
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T’Arrah & Nyale on Librarianship at the Orange Mound branch CHECKOUT: INTERVIEW WITH TWO LIBRARIANS
Interview by Laurel Phillips
THIS PAST FEBRUARY, Laurel Phillips - a 2024 Memphis Library Foundation intern and current Rhodes College student - met up with Orange Mound librarians T’Arrah Mathis and Nyale Pieh to talk about what its like to serve as a librarian for the Memphis Public Libraries and specifically within the Orange Mound community.
The three met in a conference room at the Orange Mound Library.
Laurel: How did you begin working with the Memphis Public Libraries?
T’Arrah: I’m a writer, and I have a few children’s books in the library system. So when they did the first Richard Wright award, I won the award and that led me to be introduced to Jamie Griffin (Community Outreach & Special Projects Director). So it just all happened, the universe just lined up perfectly. That’s the story of how I got here. But interestingly enough, I had been trying to work with the library for years. Probably, since I was like 21, and I didn’t know it took such an extensive background to like really get your foot in the door. But eventually, you know, I got here right on time, you know?
Nyale: So I am a former library kid. I went to the Main Library when it was on Peabody Avenue… So yeah, when I think about my childhood, I think about the library. I’m a lifelong bookworm. It’s just always been a part of my life. I taught school for 12 years and then I worked for an arts nonprofit and I just wanted something different. I saw this position was open and I was like, this. . . full circle. I am now the librarian, you know. I see the kids that are here every afternoon, the library kids that we know - that was me. That was me for my entire life. I mean, those librarians helped me with my homework, worked with me on my projects, everything, and it’s fun to be able to do that now.
Laurel: What are your favorite things about Orange Mound branch?
T’Arrah: I think the biggest thing is just the community - it’s encouraging and they take pride in it. Anything you ask them to show up for, they will find a way to like make sure they’re
there and anything to do with Orange Mound, they show up for, they send their friends. They come to this Library as if they own it and I love that, because a lot of patrons come through the door . . . giving you history lessons about things. So I mean yeah, I just I feel like that’s the best part, the people in the community… It’s just really amazing to be a part of growing the community too; like the kids, they’re going to grow to be adults . . . and to be a part of their childhood and helping them develop. . . couldn’t ask for more really.
Nyale: That’s my favorite part too, the community. It’s like I said, I’m a library kid. I want the libraries that I had, and it’s just nice to be able to provide them with that comfort, a safe space and things like that. And we connect with everybody, like I said, adults, children, seniors. And it’s just a big, nice community and everybody knows each other… and the kids come check on us. If they hear something on the news that happened in the neighborhood, they run up here afterwards and they say, “Are y’all okay?” It made me cry the other day because something happened next door, and they ran up here to make sure we’re okay.
Laurel: How are you feeling about your role as a librarian given the country’s current political climate?
Nyale: So on Election Day, I was, you know, scared for the children of this country. But I could just wallow and cry or be sad, or I could get to business - get to work. I can personally make a difference in this community with the Black girls that come here after school… And the Black teens, I just want them to have the opportunities, and also, who knows what they’re gonna learn in school now. So we make sure that they get their Black history here. They might not get it at school but they will get it here.
I do worry about education in the state and the city, but I know they can come to the library and get it, you know? Because we’re going to answer them. We’re going to direct them to where they need to find it. I’m not gonna, you know, cover their eyes… We are going to be the nice people, and we’re going to invite everybody in and we just want to encourage that - hopefulness, creativity, and curiosity.
right, Laurel Phillips
T’Arrah Mathis
Nyale Pieh
T’Arrah: I share those same exact sentiments because prior to working for the library, I didn’t know the power, the full potential of a library beyond the books, you know what I mean? Now working for the library and in this political climate, I see the power of it, why it’s necessary, because like she said with the schools, there’s a lot of gaps to be filled. And I never considered how the library could be the one to step up and kind of fill the gaps and still promote diversity.
We play a vital role in the community, so if we’re open-minded, and they see us and how we interact, and the things that we’re interested in, they might grow to have interest in it at least, you know. . . to create that curiosity, keep that curiosity alive… you should learn, you should love who you want to love, learn what you want to learn … So I feel a responsibility to make sure that I’m contributing to that, in some way. The buck doesn’t stop with the administration. It’s the people and the environment that you create.
Laurel: The history of this neighborhood goes
back to the late 1800s. This is its first public library and the community has been waiting a long time for this. How does it feel to be a part of the very first team to staff this public space?
Nyale: So yeah it feels amazing to be a part of their history, and it feels like we’ve been given a special task, have been passed the baton and are a part in living out their dreams, and making sure the community gets to experience everything they can from this library because they fought so hard for it. I’m just proud that we were picked to be on that team.
T’Arrah: Amazing, to be a part of history, extending their vision and standing on their shoulders. It makes you proud, you know, to know that you’re part of something this monumental. So, that’s why I said, don’t underestimate what we do here or, you know, the community here. This is a special place, we are on special grounds, and the history goes back far. We are just proud to be a part of their future.
Above: Brandon Marshall applies the finishing touches on his mural for the Orange Mound branch.
“The left side of the mural depicts the past, people with a hopeful expression. The right of the piece is the theoretical future.”
The full story is on page 29.
Below: Brandon applies the first brush strokes to his mural.
