Learning from a 1939 Library Protest A Conversation on New Efforts to Highlight an American Story
As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Americans are grappling with how to honestly examine our country’s history and make sense of how it applies to the world today. The story of the Alexandria, Virginia library sit-in of 1939, the first recorded sit-in to demand racial integration, offers a fresh chance to explore our past. Thanks to new grant funding, efforts are underway to build online exhibits, digitize materials, and engage communities to talk about this little-known story.
How do these efforts enrich our understanding of the evolution of the United States’s civil rights movement? What can they reveal about how demonstrations and legal efforts have shaped access to opportunity? Join us for a conversation with librarians, teachers, museum curators, and scholars of public history who are using new approaches to amplify this American story and recognize the persistent drive for equal access to education that continues to this day.
Speakers include:
Ted Johnson, director of the Us@250 Initiative at New America and a columnist for The Washington Post
Audrey Davis, director of the African American History Division of the Office of Historic Alexandria
Rose Dawson, executive director of the Alexandria Library
Annie Evans, director of Education and Outreach, New American History at the University of Richmond
Lisa Guernsey, senior director of birth through 12th grade policy at New America
Nancy Noyes Silcox, author of Samuel Wilbert Tucker: The Story of a Civil Rights Trailblazer and the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In
Jennifer Over, vice president, Reingold, a communications and web-development firm in Alexandria, VA
Jazmyne Owens, consultant on New America’s 1939 Library Sit-In Project
With deep thanks to the funders of New America’s 1939 Library Sit-In Project, including the Mellon Foundation (2026-2028), Virginia Humanities (2024-2025) the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (2023-2024), the National Endowment for the Humanities (2023), and the Hewlett Foundation (2022-2024).