2026 BMRC Scholarship Winners for The History of Black Librarianship Course Share their experiences

For the second year in a row the BMRC was able to provide scholarships for four participants to register for Dr. Nicole Cooke’s History of Black Librarianship Course at the University of South Carolina.

This year, the four recipients participated in the online weekly course which ran from May through June 2026. They engaged with expansive readings, guest lectures, and discussion board discourse illuminating the intellect, resilience, and innovation of Black librarians.

While the four awardees all had varying levels of experience with the field of Library and Information Science, each had their own reason for wanting to take the course. Below we share their experiences.

Maria Walker, a Reference & Instruction Librarian at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, noted a connection between the course and her own positionality, “I am eager to attend this course on the History of Black Librarianship because it deeply aligns with my professional and scholarly interest and commitments to the profession. As a Black librarian, I am aware of how impactful representation can be especially in academic libraries. I'm also aware of the significant roles Black librarians play in preserving and amplifying intellectual wealth.”

Maria said the course cemented and expanded her foundational understanding of librarianship. “This course also reinforced the reality that libraries are not neutral. Every decision made in libraries from collection development to preservation reflects who is prioritized. Because of this, libraries have the power to reinforce existing inequalities or transform. LIS professionals have the power to amplify underrepresented voices and create change, continuing the persistent work of Black librarians before us. Black librarianship recognizes that systemic barriers require intentional efforts to ensure the communities in which we serve are represented and supported.”

Alexyss Johnson, a non-profit researcher based in Virginia and soon to be MLIS graduate student, sought out the class as a chance to connect and ground her learning experience in both the long legacy and contemporary community of Black Librarianship. Alexyss explained that in preparing to start a new project she often looks for "a Black predecessor to ground myself and affirm that I too belong in the space, which is an incredible privilege to have a path to follow.This course [was] a timely opportunity to dedicate the time to delve deeper into the scholarship about and Black library professionals and from those currently in the field...I see this as an opportunity to create relationships with information professionals and continue my professional development.”
As someone newer to the field, the course strengthened Alexyss’ foundational knowledge while the stories of others inspired her to continue in her own journey. “With a background in Black Studies I was able to build on my knowledge of the Black experience through the lens of the [library] profession. We studied the first Black librarians and the context for Black professionals in the early 1900’s, who with limited resources still created collections that reflected the communities they served, some of which we still have today. Notably, people like Dorothy Porter expanded the classification system to make space for Black studies and voices on the shelves and built Howard University's collection that exists today as the University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Librarians like Charlemae Rollins and Augusta Baker worked together with authors and publishing houses to create children's collections in their libraries that included positive and diverse representation for Black children in their neighborhoods that had never existed before.”

Also preparing to enter an MLIS program was Mya Lyman, Assistant Cataloger at the Newberry Library, who wants to “make sure my contribution to the archive and special collections is well informed by a variety of backgrounds. Taking this course on Black Librarianship means I can apply the knowledge I learn about Black librarians in the profession to my own work to make sure I am applying anti-racist and anti-colonial pedagogies to my work and education.”

Mya reflected on the rich lesions learned in Dr. Cooke’s course and the materials that supported bringing them to life “This history course, with all of its primary source documents and lectures, has taught me so much. My two favorite readings in the class were in weeks one and week six, the two manifestos, one by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre and Education Trust and the other by Dr. Cooke. Both of the manifestos summarize many of the main theses of the class: Black people have always been at the forefront of their own liberation (from revolution to literacy to equality) and institutions have a reparative duty to recruit and maintain Black minds at the forefront of Black collections,[and that] that community, care, and creativity will be imperative to this work. Because I have not seen another university that offers a course exclusively on Black librarianship I am very grateful to have taken it before I start my professional career by getting my MLIS. Moving forward with this foundation of the history of Black librarianship– as it is the history of librarianship and not an addition as so many would paint it– is helping me to become better informed on serving Black communities and Black collections and becoming a stronger steward of all collections.”

Iman Jamison, recent graduate of Syracuse University's Master of Science program in Library and Information Science, understands the way that this course illuminates an often overlooked community. She shared that “it has become all too apparent, the lack of curriculum surrounding BIPOC librarianship and the history of librarianship in the Black community; something that strongly informs our profession today. I often think of Arna Bontemps, Arturo Schomburg, and many more Black librarians and archivists that are often left out of the conversation.”

Upon completion of the course she reflected, “as a recent MLIS graduate, I was inspired to take this course because I felt as if there was a gap in my education and therefore a disconnect from the field of library science as a whole. In a library science program, you learn the vital tools and skills needed to work with patrons and library collections, but the history of librarianship, much less the Black contributions to the field, was sorely missing from the curriculum. How can one be culturally competent without learning from our collective past? As such, this course spoke directly to my feelings of wanting to know more, to be inspired by those who came before me, and wanting to learn from those in the field today who are continuing to break the glass ceiling.”

The Black Metropolis Research Consortium is honored to have been able to support these students on their learning journeys and the vital work of Dr. Nicole Cooke.