The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library

The writing was a little difficult to follow in places, I think because this was taken largely from the author's dissertation. The story was so compelling, and it was all happening in my little hometown, which made it even more important for me to read, though. Ms. Brown showed great courage against great odds to stand up for her beliefs (and the right beliefs) in a small, southwestern, conservative town - and a company-owned town at that. I can't help but admire her bravery and integrity. I truly do appreciate the effort Louise Robbins went to to dig up this story and put it together in a comprehensible form for us all to read now and into the future, as it is an important story to tell and for kids to learn about their town.

The Ruth Brown story is little known, but compelling. Who knew a librarian in ultra conservative Bartlesville, OK had been so courageous by taking a firm stand for civil rights?

Very well researched. I chose it for my book club in Bartlesville, where a bust of Miss Ruth Brown can be found in the library. I think, though, that this is a cautionary tale and could be appropriate for any location. Freedom of Speech is still under fire in some halls.

Thank you, it came quickly and was as described.

This book was required reading for a master's degree course in which I am enrolled, and from the moment I started reading, I was entralled with the story of Miss Ruth Brown and the hardships she was forced to endure due to the personal agendas of such groups as the Chamber of Commerce and the American Legion.Miss Brown was hired as the librarian for the Bartlesville, Oklahoma public library. Located deep in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Bartlesville was home to Phillips Petroleum Company. Phillips had great influence over many of the areas of Bartlesville, including the library.One of Miss Brown's favorite activities was planning story time and fun things for children. She included black as well as white children at her gatherings. This infuriated many of the townspeople, for Bartlesville, as with other areas of the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was engulfed in racism and segregation. Also, Miss Brown was accused of having "submissive materials", including the magazines "The Nation" and "The New Republic" on the shelves. Many people felt these were Communist-type propaganda magazines that should not be available to the general public.Miss Brown remained defiant. She continued to hold her de-segregated story hours and shelve her "submissive" magazine, all to the chagrin of the "powers-that-be". She even entered a downtown drug store with two African-American women and asked to be served. She was refused.Finally, under pressure from the big wigs at Phillips, as well as other people in the community, the city commission removed Miss Brown as librarian for having submissive materials available to the general public, when in reality she was fired for promoting racial equality.Miss Brown eventually filed suit against the Bartlesville city commission, but she lost on appeal. She then took a job in Mississippi at Piney Woods Country Life School, a school for African-Americans.Miss Brown died on September 10, 1975 at the age of eighty-four, but her legacy lives on. She promoted racial harmony and equality during a time of the Ku-Klux Klan and lynchings. She promoted free speech and expression during a time of censorship. And she promoted the library as a place of learning which should be accessable to everyone.This is a fabulous book. From the moment I started reading, I could not put it down. The story told by author Louise Robbins is excellent, and her prose is easy to read and understand. I give this book my absolute highest recommendation. Read it and see how one woman's courageous struggle changed the landscape of censorship, race relations, and libraries forever.

Having spent the majority of my life living in northeastern Oklahoma, I was well aware of Bartlesville, OK. I must have made hundreds of trips to what the Chamber of Commerce touted as "America's Ideal Family Center." It had the reputation of being a conservative, white, upper-class community that was progressive as that term was defined by the dominant employer, Phillips Petroleum. In short, it was a typical, though certainly more wealthy than most, small Oklahoma town. Or so I thought. I have since learned, thanks to Louise Robbin's fine book, that Bartlesville had a dark side, darker than most it turns out, that does not appear in the Chamber of Commerce press releases. It is not a pretty story. Ruth Winifred Brown was born on July 26, 1891, in Hiawatha, KS. She graduated in 1915 with a degree from the Univ. Of Oklahoma. In November, 1919, she became the librarian for the Bartlesville Public Library. She served as librarian for 30 years without a mark on her record. It was, by all accounts, a record of outstanding achievement and exemplary service. On July 25th, 1950, Brown was summarily dismissed by the city commissioners. The reason given was she had caused subversive materials, in the form of magazines such as The Nation and The New Republic, to be circulated to the general populace. To be sure this was the McCarthy era, a time when groups such as the American Legion and the Chamber of Commerce, to name but a few, were working diligently to rid our communities of suspected or perceived communist influence. Thus, if a librarian or two had to be sacrificed in this war to protect our cherished freedoms, it really was not too big a price to pay. After all, many American's lost their jobs, reputations, and families under the tutelage of Sen. McCarthy and his ilk. That's the price of freedom. If this were the real story of Miss Ruth Brown it probably would not warrant the publication of a book. Unfortunately, there is more, much more. Thanks to the scholarship of Ms. Robbins we now know that Brown was fired from her job, not for so-called subversive activities, but because she had been active in promoting racial equality. She had the gall to not only help form a group affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) but, even more shocking, to visit a major drug store in Bartlesville in February, 1950, with two black ladies and request to be served. This she did on her own time, without any fanfare or publicity, and some four years before Brown v. Board of Education and other events which began to at least offer a glimmer of hope to those supporting racial equality. Robbins has provided the reader with the history and background of political, social, economic, and cultural events that led to the merger of McCarthyism and racial unrest, which resulted in a sad, black chapter in the history of Bartlesville, not to mention the Nation. It is sad, not only because the community tolerated such behavior by its elected and appointed officials, but also because many of Miss Brown's colleagues knew the real reason for her termination and failed to disclose it to the community. It is also the story of courage and pride exhibited mostly by women during a time when it was not popular to be supportative of African Americans or any other group not on the power structures accepted list. This is a must read book if you are interested in forces ever present in our communities that can, and do, lead to censorship, intolerance, and the suppression of individual rights. The story is about a local event some 50 years ago; the message is about issues that are relevant today. Bartlesville, "America's Ideal Family Center." You be the judge.