Chapter 11: The Black Tax: The Impact of Race, Recognition, and Representation in Librarianship

In 1938, Forest Spalding drafted the first Bill of Rights for Libraries to combat, “growing intolerance, suppression of free speech and censorship affecting the rights of minorities and individuals” (Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement Pamphlet, n.d.). Over 80 years later, the global admiration and worship of whiteness still effectively suppresses the recognition and representation of Black Americans in every field, including library science. This chapter centers around the experience of a Black librarian seeking formal recognition for the first Black library director of a regional system in Georgia, LeRoy Childs. Using the framework presented in Victor Ray’s On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care to identify the historical and systematic exclusion of Black leadership in libraries. These patterns directly impact the percentage of Black librarians and how long they work in the field. More significantly, these systems undermine the perceived image of the library to its internal and external communities.