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John Lewis was a friend to libraries and of @ALALibrary and always ready to speak or teach. His late wife Lillian had been a librarian at Atlanta U. when they met. Lewis started down the road to "good trouble"making trying to desegregate his public library in the south as a teen
He recalled: "I was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr... It seemed like he was saying to me, John Lewis, you, too, can make a contribution. He was speaking at a church in Montgomery and saying, that we must not just be concerned about the pearly gates
and the streets with milk and honey. We have to be concerned about the streets of Montgomery and the doors of Woolworth, that we have to be concerned about jobs, about blacks working as cashiers and bringing down those signs.
I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins - I was only 16 years old - we went down to the public library, trying to check out some books.
And we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for color[ed]s. It was a public library. I never went back to that public library until July 5, 1998..."
Rep. John Lewis's passing should cause those of us who work in libraries to push for equity, to push to expand the efficacy and reach of libraries so that they meet the needs of those who we yet do not or have not serve. In that way we can serve to further desegregate libraries
At his appearance at an ALA conference in 2017, Lewis, then 77 gave librarians and all who care about our collective future marching orders:"We cannot afford to be silent,” he said. “We should be standing up, getting in the way, and getting into good trouble, necessary trouble"
Marching orders received, Mr. Lewis. Onward!
