Due to the inclement weather forecast, the author talk event with Susan Orlean has been postponed until further notice.
Next month, we look forward to seeing you at the Jacqueline Woodson Arlington Reads author event on March 14.
Cub Scout Pack 589 and Ernest Johnson
Cub Scout Pack #589 was Arlington’s first African American Cub Scout Pack, established in 1952 and founded by Ernest Johnson.
This photo shows the April 1953 induction of new pack members, with Johnson standing to the right.
Founding Cub Scout Pack #589 was part of Ernest Johnson's efforts to give African American children in segregated Arlington a variety of activities to help them grow and have fun. As the director of the Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation’s Negro Recreation Section, (founded in 1950), Johnson worked tirelessly to expand the Section’s sports, arts, and culture programs for African American children in the County. He oversaw the development of Jennie Dean Field and a new recreation center at Hoffman-Boston on S. Queen Street, known as the Carver Center. The Section also organized picnics, beauty pageants, and socials.
The County recognized Johnson’s abilities as an organizer and developer of programs, and when Arlington desegregated their Parks and Recreation facilities and programs in the spring of 1961, he became the Supervisor of the Centers Section, overseeing “teen clubs, free classes, and meeting of non-Department sponsored clubs in the centers.”
Johnson stayed with the Department until his retirement in 1982. Arlington then celebrated Ernest Johnson Day with a parade, softball game, and testimonial dinner.
Ernest Johnson's work for the County is remarkable in another way: he had the foresight to hire a professional photographer to attend many of the Negro Recreation Section’s activities.
To see more of these photographs, visit the Ernest Johnson Collection, Photograph Collection 218, in the Arlington Community Archives online.
Deandra Tan: Comics
On exhibit at the Aurora Hills Branch Library, February 6 - March 31.
Artist Statement:
Deandra "Nika" Tan is a Virginia-based writer and artist who primarily leverages the medium of comics to tell her stories. Her visual art style combines elements of Japanese manga and vintage art illustrations, which she then further adapts to fit the tone of whatever project she's working on. Initial concept work is done traditionally with a pen and paper, whereupon the comic is drafted and completed on a tablet computer. Recurring themes in her stories explore the tensions between romantic and familial relationships and the desire for societal recognition.
Want to buy something you see on our walls?
Artists contribute 20% of sales made during their exhibit to the Friends of the Arlington County Public Library, to help support Library programming.
CANCELED – February 20 Author Susan Orlean in Conversation with Library Director Diane Kresh
2019 Arlington Reads Author Susan Orlean
Central Library Auditorium
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Join us for a conversation between Library Director Diane Kresh and journalist and author Susan Orlean on her newest work, “The Library Book.”
A staff writer for The New Yorker for over twenty years and a former contributing editor at Rolling Stone and Vogue, Orlean’s previous work has inspired two successful films: “Blue Crush,” the story of young women surfing in Maui, and “Adaptation,” the metafilm directed by Spike Jonze.
All Library Locations Closed Monday, Feb. 18 for George Washington Day
In Virginia, the official state holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February is named “George Washington Day.”
The federal holiday celebrated on the same day is named “Washington’s Birthday.”
And Maryland calls it something else…
So if you live in the Metro DC area, keeping track of this holiday’s name can be confusing.
Oral History: Desegregation of Arlington’s Public Schools
Interview with Dorothy Hamm, School Desegregation Activist
In honor of the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Arlington County public schools, the Center for Local History presents an oral history clip from an interview with Dorothy Hamm, who lived in Arlington at the height of the battle to desegregate Arlington’s public schools, and was part of different lawsuits throughout the county to integrate not only the schools but restaurants, hospitals, and theaters.
In this clip from 1986, Hamm shared her experience trying to register her son for school at Stratford and her activity in lawsuits to desegregate public facilities in Arlington County.
Dorothy Hamm has been honored by the County with the naming of a new middle school in Cherrydale, the Dorothy Hamm Middle School, set to open in September 2019.
NARRATOR: Dorothy Hamm
INTERVIEWER 1: Edmund Campbell
INTERVIEWER 2: Cas Cocklin
DATE: February 21, 1986
Transcript:
EC: You recall the Supreme Court decision directing the desegregation of the public schools "with all deliberate speed" which was made in l954. After that time, you became rather active in the shall I call it the desegregation movement, did you not?
DH: Yes, I did. My reason for doing that was because I felt that with the Supreme Court's decision my two sons would have an opportunity to attend Stratford, an integrated school and I told them the meaning of the Supreme Court's decision, and I also told them that they would be going to Stratford. However, almost 2 years had passed, they still had not been permitted to attend; and this is why I really got involved.
EC: What did you do?
DH: On one occasion, my husband and I took our oldest son to Stratford in an attempt register him, and he was denied. I was also one of the original plaintiffs in the suit of 14 parents and 22 children.
EC: What suit was this?
DH: This was the suit that was filed by the N.A.A.C.P. in May of 1956, 2 years after the Supreme Court's decision.
EC: This was the suit, was it, in the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia before Judge Albert Bryan?
DH: Yes, it was.
EC: And you were one of the original plaintiffs?
DH: That's right.
EC: Did you take any other action at that time other than participate in that suit? I mean were you involved in any other desegregation movements at that time?
DH: Not really at that time. They came just a little bit later my suits involving the theatres, the hospital, eating places and working places.
CC: May I ask, in these desegregation suits where the children were involved, what was the feeling of the children? Were they truly indignant and anxious for equality of education or opportunities or was there any compulsion on the part of the parents requiring the children's cooperation?
DH: No, I think all the children were very eager to go. All of the parents were very anxious for their children to attend the school because they felt this was a better opportunity for their children knowing that all of them had attended segregated schools.
For more information on desegregation in Arlington County and its schools, please visit Arlington Public Library’s Project DAPS website.
Photo of students and librarian in the library of Hoffman-Boston from the George Melvin Richardson Collection, 1950s: projectdaps.org/items/show/42
The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.
What is the oral history collection?
Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.
The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.
To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.
George Melvin Richardson
Hoffman-Boston Principal, 1954-1965
Do you remember your first school field trip to visit the Smithsonian dinosaurs?
In this photo, a group of late 1950s/early 1960s Hoffman-Boston high school students examine the relics on display at the Museum of Natural History.
Their principal at Hoffman-Boston (the combined elementary, junior high, and senior high school for African American students) was George Melvin Richardson, a man of quiet authority and the ideal leader to cope with the complex issues then facing his school and the County.
Richardson was on the initial 1954 committee to study desegregation of the Arlington Public Schools, and principal of Hoffman-Boston from 1954 until the school was closed in 1965. Faced with inadequate classrooms and facilities, Richardson worked for years to improve and expand the school. Field trips such as the one pictured here helped to compensate for the lack of equipment and resources, and to educate students beyond the classroom.
As a resident of the Arlington View neighborhood, Richardson also worked to create the area’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan (one of the first in the county), and later served on the executive board for the Arlington Committee of 100.
George Melvin Richardson’s photographs, oral histories, papers and more can be found on the Center for Local History’s ProjectDAPS.org website, a repository for the Center’s collection of archival documents and photographs relating to the story of the desegregation of Arlington public schools.
View the George Melvin Richardson Collection in ProjectDAPS.org
George Washington Day? Presidents Day? Washington’s Birthday?
The Federal Holiday Celebrated the 3rd Monday in February is "Washington's Birthday"
Edward Penfield, illustrator. Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, cph.3g12932.
But if you live in the Metro DC area, keeping track of this holiday's name can be confusing...
- In Virginia, the official state holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February is named George Washington Day.
- In Maryland, they now celebrate the state holiday President's Day on the third Monday, but until 1996, MD celebrated Lincoln's birthday on Feb. 12 and Washington's Birthday on the third Monday of February.
- In Washington D.C., the Human Resources Department matches the federal holiday, and marks the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday (pdf p.14).
- The United States Office of Personell Management (Federal Government) marks the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday.
While "Lincoln's Birthday" is a separate holiday in some states, and "Presidents Day" is the name of the holiday in other states (although no one agrees on the punctuation), the term "Presidents Day" was never adopted as the name of the federal holiday.
From the Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Presidents Day: In the United States, [a holiday] (third Monday in February) popularly recognized as honouring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.
The origin of Presidents’ Day lies in the 1880s, when the birthday of Washington—commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States—was first celebrated as a federal holiday. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays to Mondays. The change was designed to schedule certain holidays so that workers had a number of long weekends throughout the year, but it has been opposed by those who believe that those holidays should be celebrated on the dates they actually commemorate.
During debate on the bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents’ Day to honour the birthdays of both Washington (February 22) and Lincoln (February 12); although Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated in many states, it was never an official federal holiday. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change.
After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.
"Presidents’ Day." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 18 Feb. 2011. academic-eb-com.library.access.arlingtonva.us/levels/collegiate/article/Presidents-Day/389228. Accessed 12 Feb. 2018.
[Article originally posted Feb. 9, 2012. Sources checked and citations updated February 12, 2018; Feb 6, 2019]
Win a Book Wednesday: “The Bird King”
Win a Copy of "The Bird King" by G. Willow Wilson
About "The Bird King"
"From the author of "Alif the Unseen" comes a stunning novel filled with folktale, fantasy, and history. A young woman finds power and faith in order to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Fatima, a concubine in the court of Granada must brave the unknown to save her friend Hassan from the Spanish Inquisition. This is a story filled with cultures meeting – sometimes mixing, sometimes clashing – and the complications of love. For fans of Naomi Novik, S. A. Chakraborty and Helene Wecker."
Reviewed for you here by librarian Karen. Publication date is set as March 12, 2019.
Want to Win this Book?
- Leave a comment below on Wednesday, Feb. 6, and share the name of the book you're reading this week.
- Everyone who leaves a comment here, on Facebook OR Twitter will be entered into a random drawing (Library employees are not eligible). Please only enter in one place.
- The winner will be contacted by email on Thursday, Feb. 7
- The winner can pick up their prize at the Library location of their choice.
Win a Book Wednesdays takes place twice a month. Prize books are Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of books that will be added to the Library collection within the next month, and can already be found in the Library catalog as "on order."
ARCs are uncorrected proofs given to the Library for review purposes only, and are not for sale.
Central Library Upgrade: Public Computers Unavailable Feb. 4-5
On Monday, Feb. 4, and Tuesday, Feb. 5, Central Library's public computers may be unavailable for public use.
During this time, we will be installing new public computer station on the second floor.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
