On this corner stood the Auburn Avenue Branch Carnegie Library for African-Americans, from 1923 to the 1950s. Alic Dugged Carey, the first principal of Morris Brown University (now College), along with Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and others led the fight to gain a library for African-Americans. The main library downtown was segregated and there was no library facility for African-Americans until the Auburn Branch opened in 1923. The Library was a landmark in the community, and its weekly children's reading hour was one of the most popular activities.
In the 1930s, Annie McPheeters became head of the branch and worked to acquire material by and about African-Americans. The Auburn Avenue Collection served as the basis for the West Hunter Street Branch, and the Black Studies Collection at the downtown branch, later renamed the Samuel Williams Collection. The same collection serves as the core of the Auburn Avenue Research Library, located at the western end of Auburn.
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The Sweet Auburn Historic Interpretive Program developed by:
Corporation for Olympic Development in Atlanta
Digging It Up
African-American Research and Consulting Firm, Inc.
Jones Worley Design, Inc. Graphic Designers
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