Charlemae Hill Rollins (June 20, 1897 – February 3, 1979)
[ was a pioneering ]librarian
A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...
, writer and storyteller in the area of African-American literature
African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of slave narratives, African-A ...
. During her thirty-one years as head librarian of the children's department at the Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...
as well as after her retirement, she instituted substantial reforms in children's literature.
Life
Rollins was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi
Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...
, to Allen G. Hill, a farmer, and Birdie Tucker Hill, a teacher. Her family moved to Beggs in Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...
hoping to find better living conditions, but discovered that black children were excluded from attending school. Undeterred, Rollins's family founded a school which Rollins attended.[Turner, G. T. (1997). Follow in their footsteps. New York: Cobblehill Books.]
After completing her elementary education, Rollins attended black high schools in St Louis, Missouri, Holly Springs, Mississippi, and Quindoro, Kansas, where she graduated in 1916. After earning her teaching certificate, she taught at the school her family had set up before leaving to attend Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
. She returned after a year to marry Joseph Walter Rollins on April 8, 1918. The couple moved to Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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in 1919, after Joseph returned from World War I. Their son, Joseph Walter Rollins, Jr., was born in 1920.
Rollins became a children's librarian at the Chicago Public Library in 1927. Initially, she worked at the Hardin Square Branch Library, where she became known as a prolific storyteller.[ Though she did not earn a degree, Rollins received library training from Columbia College in the summer of 1932, and the graduate library program of the ]University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
from 1934-1936.[Charlemae Hill Rollins lectronic Version Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 23. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.] It is not surprising Rollins chose to concentrate in children's literature, calling learning to read at a young age "the best thing I ever did."[Charlemae Hill Rollins lectronic. (1992). Version Notable Black American Women, 1. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.] Rollins's grandmother, a former slave, was a pivotal person in her life. She helped Rollins cultivate her love of reading by allowing her access to her library.[ This passion helped drive Rollins to become a librarian.
Chicago's black population swelled as more families moved north for better education, work and living conditions. Racism (de jure & de facto) was rampant, contrasting with the benign attitude towards blacks before 1915.]["Chicago and Its Eight Reasons: Walter White Considers the Causes of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot". ''Crisis''. History Matters (October 1919). Retrieved on 12/6/2008 from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4978] Since then, tensions had progressed, and culminated in events like the Chicago Race Riot of 1919
The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a violent racial conflict between white Americans and black Americans that began on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. During the riot, 38 people died (23 black and ...
. In such an atmosphere, no library was founded for the community until the George Cleveland Hall Branch Library opened in 1932. The first branch built in a black neighborhood, the library had a variety of patrons from various racial & economic groups.[ Rollins became the head of the children's department, where she worked until retiring in 1963.
Rollins worked with the library director, Vivian Harsh, to make the library welcoming to the multicultural, socioeconomically diverse patrons.][ Under their guidance, the library hosted discussion groups, lectures, a Negro History Club, and book fairs.][ In addition to her work with children, Rollins also set up a reading guidance clinic for parents. Many notable black writers visited the library, including Richard Wright, ]Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...
, Margaret Walker
Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. H ...
, and Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
, with whom Rollins developed a friendship.
Besides these contributions to librarianship, Rollins also taught at Morgan College
Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...
in Baltimore, Maryland, and summers at Fisk University
Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...
in Nashville, Tennessee. She also began teaching a course in Children's Literature at Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The unive ...
in 1949 and continued until 1979.
Rollins died on February 3, 1979, at the age of 81.
Literature reforms
Much of the literature available to young children in the earlier half of the twentieth century was rife with stereotypical portrayals of blacks, including false dialects, illustrations, and offensive words. While many libraries nationwide did not have a segregationist agenda, neither were they quick to invite blacks to utilize the collections.[Graham, P. T. (2002). A right to read: segregation and civil rights in Alabama's public libraries, 1900–1965. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.]
Rollins crusaded to change the content in many children's and young adult books to accurately portray black life. Her first publication in 1941, ''We Build Together: A Reader's Guide to Negro Life and Literature for Elementary and High School Use, '' is a bibliography of books suitable for young African-American children that sought to eliminate negative black stereotypes. Biographies, nonfiction, and sports genres are represented alongside picture and fiction books for children and young adults.[Rollins, C. H., & Baker, A. (1967). We build together; a reader's guide to Negro life and literature for elementary and high school use. (3rd ed.). Champaign, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English.]
Rollins was primarily concerned with providing materials that portrayed African-Americans in a positive light, as well as materials by and about blacks. ''We Build Together'' was written to create an index of “books that Negro children could enjoy without self-consciousness, books with which they could identify satisfactorily, books that white children could read and so learn what Negro young people and families were like.” [ She also believed that positive black literature could also help foster tolerance between races by knocking these stereotypical conceptions down. ''We Build Together'' cemented Rollins's reputation as a prominent leader in children's literature. Publishers began sending her copies of books to evaluate.
Rollins was also a noted storyteller. In “The Art of Storytelling,” she wrote, "Storytelling is a wonderful way of breaking down barriers, or getting acquainted with new people, and drawing groups and individuals together." Her stories were based on positive news articles about blacks, folk tales, or stories her grandmother had told her.
After retiring, Rollins turned her hand to writing. She published ''Christmas Gif', an Anthology of Christmas Poems, Songs and Stories Written by and about Negroes'' in 1963. Her passion for storytelling is reflected in the variety of excerpts from ]Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...
, Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
, and Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...
.
The rest of Rollins's books were biographies, in keeping with her strong sentiment that they were the best kind of books for young children: “he genre
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
includes the greatest number of Negro authors. It is here that all children can build a firm foundation of knowledge of and respect for Negroes. They will be prepared for the first introduction to the concept of different skin color…They now can feel that America is indeed their country”[
]
Leadership
Rollins served as president of the Children's Services Division of the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
from 1957 to 1958. She was the first black librarian to hold the position. She also chaired the Jane Addams Children's Book Award Committee for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
, as well as the Newbery-Caldecott Award Committee from 1956-1957. Rollins served on the advisory committee for the ''Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books'' at the University of Chicago from 1941-1977.
Books
In all, Rollins wrote or co-wrote six books:
*''We Build Together: A Reader's Guide to Negro Life and Literature for Elementary and High School Use '', 1941
*''Christmas Gif', an Anthology of Christmas Poems, Songs and Stories Written by and about Negroes, 1963
*''They Showed the Way: Forty American Negro Leaders'', 1964
*''Famous American Negro Poets'' 1965
* ''Famous Negro Entertainers of Stage, Screen, and TV'', 1967
*''Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes'', 1971
She also edited and contributed to countless other works.
Honors and awards
Rollins received an honorary life membership in the ALA in 1972, the first African-American to do so. On October 21, 1989, the children's room at the Hall Branch Library was named in Rollins' honor. The Charlemae Hill Rollins Colloquium is held twice a year at North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from b ...
, where attendees discuss how to improve library services for children.
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
honored Rollins by naming their annual President's Program after the former ALSC President. The program takes place annually at the American Library Association's Annual Conference.
Rollins was also honored by Columbia College in 1974 with a doctorate of humane letters. Despite Rollins' long career promoting education, this was the first degree she had ever received: “But you can still touch me even now—it's the only degree I've ever had.”[Rollins, C. (1974). Charlemae Rollins--librarian and storyteller. American Libraries.]
Additionally, she received:
*American Brotherhood Award, National Conference of Christians and Jews
The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures.
The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...
, 1952[Miller, Marilyn L. Pioneers and Leaders in Library Services to Youth A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. ]
*American Library Association Letter, 1953
*Grolier Society Award, 1955
*Woman of the Year
''Woman of the Year'' is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (with uncredited work on the rewritten e ...
, Zeta Phi Beta
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achie ...
, 1956
*Honorary membership in Phi Delta Kappa
PDK International (also known as PDK or Phi Delta Kappa International) is a US professional organization for educators. Its main office is in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded on January 24, 1906.
Membership
Currently, membership consists o ...
, 1959
*Good American Award of the Chicago Committee of One-hundred, 1962["Charlemae Hill Rollins." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2010.]
*Three (3) Negro Centennial Awards, 1963
*Children's Reading Round Table Award, 1963
*Constance Lindsay Skinner Award
Women's National Book Association
1970
*The Coretta Scott King Award
The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...
in 1971 for her biography ''Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes''
*Torchbearers Award of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
sorority, 1972
*Plaque from the Black Librarians' Caucus, 1976
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Charlemae Hill
American librarians
American women librarians
1897 births
1979 deaths
People from Yazoo City, Mississippi
Howard University alumni
Columbia College Chicago alumni
University of Chicago Graduate Library School alumni
Morgan State University faculty
Fisk University faculty
Roosevelt University alumni
African-American librarians