Learning from a 1939 Library Protest: New Efforts Highlight an American Story

Hello. Hello everyone. I'm Lisa Gernzie and I'm so happy to welcome you to our online event today. On this day 87 years ago, August 21st, 1939, something extraordinary happened in Alexandria, Virginia, that mattered not only to locals, but really to has significance for our entire country. So today, you're here to you'll hear that story. Um, we're so glad you're with us. Um, and many of you outside of Alexandria, Virginia may not have heard of this story before and and what it means. Um so we have collected so many um partners and esteemed experts that you'll hear from today in this event to to talk it through with us and to also help us understand and and just give some examples of how important it can be to engage our public and our young people and our students in stories like this to help the public and our students learn about civil rights struggles and progress throughout America. American history. So, um, first let me just introduce myself. Um, I'm the senior director for birth through 12th grade policy at New America. New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. We're focused on big ideas and bold solutions to public problems. And the work you'll hear about today is part of a project in our education and work program. It also aligns with our US at 250 initiative at New America, which you will hear more about in a moment. So, if you go to the next slide here, you'll see head shot of of me as well as um our um my esteemed colleagues um Ted Johnson and Jasmine Owens. And um oh, and before that, here's a quick snapshot of what this hour is going to look like. Um we're gonna we're gonna go to Ted in a moment and he's going to talk about the US at 250 project and why it relates so much to this story. And then we're going to um have Jasmine Owens be our MC for the hour. And she will take us through three parts um with our colleagues and partners who will talk about preservation and digitization, reaching students, and building an immersive exhibit. And then we're going to go to Q&A. We're so thrilled so many of you. We had more than 225 people RSVP for this which is a incredible on a you know a summer Friday. So thank you all for joining us and we're um then we'll have a a moment at the very end to to wrap up and have some reflections. So Ted is a senior fellow at New America. He is in our democratic futures um issue area and he's also the director of the US at 250 project. But many of you may also recognize Ted's name, Theodore Johnson, um, from his compelling writing as a columnist for the Washington Post and as an author of When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America. He also has a new book out, If We We Are Brave. So, Ted, I'm going to turn it over to you now. Thanks so much, Ted, for being with us. >> Yeah, thank you, Lisa, for having me. It's good to be with you all today. Um, you know, as Lisa said, this is the nation's 250th anniversary and uh the the official title um of this of any 250th anniversary is is a semiquincential which is a library card word if I ever heard one. Um but it essentially means half of half of 500 and this is a milestone for the country. Um, this weekend in DC, there will be a uh I I get my race cars mixed up, the NASCAR and the Indies and the Daytonas and but there will be a race this weekend uh in in the country in the nation's capital that follows a um you know state fair of sorts, worlds fair kind of thing on the National Mall and a number of events. And usually these kinds of anniversaries are moments when a country can sort of take a breath, step back, assess its story, assess how it's doing, how it thinks it's doing, and then how it's actually doing. And then how we can close the gap between uh who a country says it is and then who it proves to be through its actions. And this is kind of what I wanted to talk about today. Um, leading up to the 250th, you know, a lot of our national memory was grounded in the bsentennial in 1976. Lots of fond memories about painting fire hydrants red, white, and blue. Um, there was a bsentennial minute during prime time TV in the evenings. And if you guys know the schoolhouse rock songs, I'm just a bill. all of those that's also from the bsentennial a way of trying to uh both increase civic education and civic spirit around a national anniversary. Uh this anniversary has not really had those components. A lot of that is because of the hyperartisanship in the country, a lot of the polarization in the country, bad leaders and eroding democracy. And yet we still have a country that's made it this far that has work to do but that has come a long way. And so what we wanted to do at New America was create an initiative that acknowledges the entire American story and not just the good parts that we can pat ourselves on the background and not just the bad parts that we can commiserate over but all of it together. Uh because the fullness of the American story is where the beauty of it is. And that's sort of what brings us to to this topic and in this convening today. Uh the guiding framework or the SA250 initiative at New America is pride, reckoning, and aspiration. Pride in the nation's progress, reckoning with its shortfalls and injustices, and then having a shared aspiration for the next version of the country that we can build together. Now, when we rolled this out to folks, uh, those on the right loved pride, they loved aspiration, and the reckoning was a little hard for them to wrap their minds around. On the left, the reckoning was very popular. Aspiration was good, but pride was a little tough to accept, especially considering all the things happening in the country now. And what our message is is one, you don't have to choose. You can be proud and recognize that we've not yet lived up to our high-minded ideals. And two, um, if one of these doesn't rub you the wrong way a little bit more than the other two, then you're probably not thinking about it hard enough because all three together are hard to digest together. And this is what makes national anniversaries and events like this one so important. Now, sort of going, look, I'm in Fairfax County, so the story of um of the sit in in 1939 is right down the street and is is part of the local history here. um pole taxes. The the constitutional amendment that eradicated pole taxes, one of the you know it it sort of stems from a Virginia case in Alexandria around pole taxes. Um and you know we could go on and on about all the ways that Virginia has helped sort of change our country's trajectory even down to interracial marriage in Virginia and loving. So this is one of those cases. This is one of those instances where people in a community decided enough is enough and that uh there was time it's time to do something about making the country fairer and uh and and more aligned with its principles. Now we our national model is e- plurbassunum out of many one but in 1939 the motto was really separate but equal and equal in quotes because it wasn't equal. And if you really think about it, while our neighborhoods might have been separate, our schools, our churches, we were in an integrated society. Most people on the job walking around, you you didn't just see people who looked like you, but you were forced into a different cast of society depending on the color of your skin. And what these young people decided to do in 1939 was say enough is enough. And so they forced a reckoning in Alexandria by stepping into the whites only library funded by tax dollars of people of all color um all colors. They dressed up in suits and sat at different t tables so they wouldn't be considered a nuisance and were still asked to leave. Um their sitin forced a reckoning with the hypocrisy of of uh the separate but equal policy especially uh relative to the constitution. um their aspiration for this uh country, their community was for it to live up to those ideals in the declaration that we are all created equal, that we have unalienable rights, and that government deres its power from the consent of the governed. And believe it or not, it takes a lot of pride to put your life, well-being, and safety on the line and step outside of the law because the law itself is unjust and put yourself in harm's way in order to make things better for everyone. Do you know how much you have to love a country in order to put your physical being on the line to make it better for not just you, but other folks like you and beyond? So we can take the example of these students at this 250th anniversary to learn how to be better Americans for posterity to create a better country than the one we inherited and to leave behind for the next generation a a nation that is workable and closer to the version of the country that it said it wanted to be at its founding and that we've spent 250 years plus trying to get closer to to actually becoming. So again, thank you all for for being here today. Um, you're going to learn lots about this fascinating story and uh I really appreciate the opportunity to to be here. >> Wow. Oh my gosh, Ted, thank you. It was really stirring honestly and um I I feel so I feel that pride right of being in Alexandria, but I feel all of it um and especially this aspiration. And I think um Jasmine's going to take us through this the rest of this event today to think about what we aspire to for our young people for for our students, for our young public so that they also understand um this and can feel that connection. So um thank you so much Ted. I'm going to take a moment now. I'm going to shift over and um introduce my dear colleague Jasmine who will be our MC for the day. Um Jasmine is a consultant on this project with us. She has been working on this with me um for gosh I think almost like four years almost at this point. Jasmine, it's been such a beautiful journey. Um she's been writing several pieces for us, helping to conduct many video interviews and we'll talk about that video interview series at some point later in the in the event today. Um she's moderated many of our events including at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. and Audrey and Rose joined us for that which was which was such a a thrill back in 2024 and has also created a mini video about it. So Jasmine, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for being on this project with us and I'm going to turn it over to you now to take us through the rest of the program. >> Thanks so much Lisa. Um I'm really happy to be with you all here today and to share some more of the story. Um, so Ted shared a little bit of the events that happened in 1939, but I'm gonna just rehash them um, very briefly and then take us through a brief overview of what our panels will entail. So in 1939, five young black men peacefully demonstrated their right to read in an Alexandria public library, which at the time was declared to be only for white citizens. The men entered the library, requested library cards, and were denied. But instead of leaving, they chose books from the shelves, sat down, only to be arrested and escorted out by police. This took place well before the lunch counter sitins and bus boycots of the 1950s and60s. And the events, this event and the stories behind it illuminate the history of inequities still plaguing our education system and offer inspiring examples of how to overcome them. So today we'll be in conversation with experts, historians, and educators who are working to preserve and elevate the story of the library sitin and the work of Samuel Tucker 87 years later. Part one of our conversation will be focused on preservation and digitization where we'll be joined by Audrey Davis, director of the African-American history division of the office of historic Alexandria and Rose Dawson, executive director of the Alexandria Library. Part two will be focused on making the story accessible to students where we'll be joined by Annie Evans, director of education and outreach for New American history at the University of Richmond and Nancy Silox, author of Samuel Wilbert Tucker, the story of a civil rights trailblazer in the 1939 Alexandria Library sitin. And finally, part three will focus on building an exhibit for the public and reaching national audiences. Well, we'll be joined by Lisa Gernzie, who you've already met, who is the senior director of the birth through 12th grade policy program at New America, and Jennifer Over, vice president at Ryold, a communications and web development firm in Alexandria, Virginia. So, to start, we'll be joined by Audrey and Rose. Hi, Audrey. Hi, Rose. I'm so happy to see you both. >> Good morning, Jasmine. >> Good to see you. >> All right, we're gonna start with Audrey. So part of your work as the director for the Alexandria Black History Museum was focused on keeping the story of the 1939 library sitting alive and uplifted. So now as the director for the African-American history division of the Office for Historic Alexandria, can you tell us how all of that work started and why it's so important? >> Sure. I I'm happy to. And uh I have to give all credit to my first director uh Eugene Thompson who was the director at what was known as the Alexandria Black History Resource Center at the time. And he had installed at the corner of within North Alfred Streets a plaque uh acknowledging that the Alfred Street side of the building was the 1940 Robert H. Robinson Library that was built after the 1939 sitin. And when I came in 93, the sitin was celebrated. So we were really happy to celebrate the uh the the historic achievement of this sitin and the five African-American uh young men who requested library cards at the Alexandria Library. One of the things that we did was a series of programs. We had panel discussions on civil rights. We had two reenactments of the sitin, one with middle school students and one with elementary school students that were captured in our local paper. Uh we always acknowledge the sitin as an integral part of Alexandria's story. there in 1864 there was a petition by United States colored troops over 400 USCT who were in Alexandria and found that their compatriots were being buried in the Freriedman cemetery which they considered a poppers grave and they requested that they be buried in Alexandria's soldier cemetery and we consider that really the first major organized civil rights action possibly in this country and the sitin was to us in Alexandria, the second most important civil rights event for African-Americans. And I am actually speaking to you from Philadelphia today because I'm attending the AL I'm attending the Association of African-American Museums conference. And it's so inspiring here to see over 500 African-American museum professionals who are working every day to preserve our history and our counties, in our cities, in our states. And this story is a very important story and I've been happy today to be able to share that story uh with the participants here at the conference. So for us, the sitin is an integral part of Alexandria's story. It's a story of bravery. when you consider that Alexandria had two lynchings, one in 1897, one in 1899. And so for these young men to take this stand for us is a very important part of Alexandria's story. Oh, and I see on the screen you are showing the plaque that was installed by Eugene Thompson, the very first director for the Black History Museum. And then the intro panel uh for an exhibition we did in 2014 for the 75th anniversary uh of the um sit in 1939 sit in and it was an exhibition called sit down and take a stand that we're very proud of. >> Thank you Audrey Rose. You are the first black director of the Alexandria Library system but you've been serving in this role for a very long time. So in that time you've ensured that the history of the 1939 library sit in is honored not just at the Barrett branch of the library but across all of the libraries in Alexandria. How has the digitization of primary source documents helped to support the work of keeping the story of the library sitting alive? So I want to share a quote with you all. boss. I'm a fat white Jewish guy and we were on the wrong side of the argument. We don't celebrate the 1939 sitting. We join into whatever the Black History Museum does. And so in 2008, this is what the head of the local history special collections department told me. And as you shared, I'm the first black director. And I told them that there was no way I could have this job if it hadn't been for those actions that took place by those gentlemen as well as some others. And so over the last 16 years, I've made it my business to celebrate the 75th, the 80th, and the 85th anniversaries as major affairs. I mean it is what Alexandria does as a historic town and that is it tells its stories but this was a story that we had left out. And so one of the things we had to do was first and foremost we had to acknowledge that it occurred. It is a part of the library's history not just the black history museum. We had to apologize for the role we played. And then we needed to take some sort of action to embrace this part of our history and make sure that folks knew we would do our best to make sure something of this nature never happened again. And so we secured honorary co-chairs because whenever you take on something of this nature, you need to have buyin. And in order to do that, we had Mr. Ferdinande who was the first black school board chair in Alexandria. and Paty Tyer who was the former mayor and senator. And when you have people of that nature supporting the importance of what you're doing, it's credibility and um it it brings it the validity and credibility to what we were trying to do. And so over the last few years, we celebrated it. We made sure we got a historic marker. Um we had postcards available in the visitors center. Uh we won awards, two major awards in the library world um for what we were doing. One for the programming, one for how we communicated the story. We we established and created read posters with the descendants and then we put together a traveling exhibit that is still available if any of you are interested in having it come and visit. But it has been our partnership with New America that has allowed for us to take it to the next level. You know, utilizing the technology, um, we've been able to focus on the preservation and the conservation of our documents. I mean, we have letters from Tucker. Uh, so it tells the story in writing. We have a number of primary resources. And so one of the things that we wanted to make sure was that but we couldn't afford to do and so we were so grateful to Lisa and New America for joining us because in order to do the digitization of it we were able to take the the grant funds and buy the necessary equipment. it. This is whenever you all know whenever you're digitizing it is um it requires certain types of equipment and technology and frankly some additional staff and having interns. We were talking about how you have folks who are interested in this sort of thing and letting them assist us in putting the information together. And so we were able to focus on the conservation needs. So when you're doing this, you're looking at the the uh information and everything that we have for its quality, the shape, its condition. You're able to then look at our finding aids and whether or not they're accurate. Um recently in the news, you saw where someone over at the seminary discovered um the original u a copy of Dr. King's letter from a Birmingham jail. You often uncover things that you don't know are in your collection. And doing this digitization pro project allowed people to focus on what we knew we had and uncovered some of the things that we didn't know that we were had that we had. We were then took that information and we were able to scan the material and then we took those images and they were exported and folder level. You put it in a folder and so then you're able to make sure that the metadata is there. It's coded correctly. It's just so important so that when you are able to make it available um online to the public and and we connect it to archive space then that is what this partnership digitizing this information and putting it together so that it will allow this wonderful um digital exhibit to occur. So, not only will we have our traditional exhibit, but we now will be able to have online available to not just Alexandrians, but people across the country. It's an amazing thing to be a part of. >> Thanks so much, Audrey. Thanks so much, Rose. >> Thank you. Welcome. >> We'll now be joined by Annie and Nancy. >> Well, hi everybody. Uh, I'm not sure, Jasmine, if you'll be able to pull pull up the story map for us to share or whoever's running the slides. Um, I do have the link to the lesson. Um, and I will put that in the chat. So, my role um, at New American History, which is based at the University of Richmond, is to create learning resources, uh, on a variety of topics. And so when Lisa brought this project to our attention, um I work with Ed Ays who's a historian and our former university president. We were very interested in joining this team and bringing this story to light. One of our favorite sayings is that all history is local. And we think it's really important that students see themselves in the history. Uh my mother actually attended Alexandria City Public Schools back in the 1950s. Um that's where she met my dad. he was stationed at Fort Belvour uh later on after she graduated. And so I grew up in that area. Um and I had never heard this story. So when Lisa brought this to us, I knew that I it was important to us that we found Alexandria City teachers to help us develop these resources because we want students to to help us dig into the history. Uh and so whenever we do something that sort of has a local lens, we'd like to figure out a way to start local and then widen it out so that students beyond Virginia, we hope will be using these learning resources. Uh so we worked with a very talented secondary history teacher and his social studies um curriculum specialist there in Alexandria public schools. We developed a lesson over um a few months and then he piloted everything in his classroom for us towards the end of last school year to get feedback from students which I felt was really really important. Um the story map is just part of a larger um learning resource. It's just one component. The other part that I really am joyful about is a high school student created this story map. So this this digital platform is the same industry level software that colleges, universities, businesses uh use, but the company makes it available free to K12 teachers and students for them to develop workforce skills and tools that they can use to analyze not just history but all different content areas. So we worked with a high school another high school teacher and his GIS class. So geographic information systems digital mapping. This is a skill that kids are learning in high school and we have found it to be a great storytelling tool. So a two high school students and their teacher worked on the story map. That's the first link that Jasmine added. And then that map has been embedded into the learning resources along with video content, audio content, and a wonderful excerpt that was adapted from NY's book about Samuel Tucker. The teacher who developed this lesson with us has gone on to work with us on a second lesson that talks about Samuel Tucker who was one of the young men who was part of the Alexandria Library sitin. He went on to become a lawyer and a very important civil rights litigator and champion. And so there's a whole second learning resource that we'll be debuting next week on our website that's sort of a follow-up. And I think this is really important, very similar to the story of Barbara John's, if you're familiar with the young woman who led the Motton School walk out in Virginia, um that led eventually to the Brown versus Board case. I think young people need to see how young people can make a difference and they need to see these young men from the Alexandria sitin and then what did they do? I would love to know what happened to all the other men. Like those could be five more learning resources. You know, we we do know more about Samuel Tucker and and the new Kent versus Green case that he litigated that had to do with school segregation later on in his life as a lawyer. Um it would be interesting for students to dig into what what did the other young men do with their lives after being these young activists. But the fact that that they will now they are now part of the Virginia Standards of Learning. Kids all over Virginia will learn about it. But we hope through New American history, kids all over the United States will also learn these these stories. >> Thank you, Annie. Nancy, we'll go to you next. Um, you served as the first librarian for the Samuel Tucker Elementary School and you wrote a children's book about Samuel Tucker's life. Can you share some of the reasoning why that is so why it was so important for you to share about Samuel Tucker's life with that age group? >> Sure. Um when we taught the students about their school's namesake, um I realized that they wanted to know more about Samuel Tucker, his life and his career as a civil rights lawyer. Uh they wanted to know where he lived, what his family was like, what did he do after um the sitin. And I've been teaching kids how to do research u for many years. And when I retired, I decided that I better prove that I can do it myself. Um, and so I started uh using the resources at the Alexandria Library Special Collections Department and at the Alexandria Black History Museum. I spent many hours there um learning about the the sitin and about Samuel Tucker. And then because many of our students uh were learning English as a second language, I wrote the Tucker biography using short simple sentences without idioms and um with strong nouns and verbs so that the Tucker's story and the story of the sitin u was accessible for a wide range of readers. And then I wanted to talk about um how it is used in in schools. So I visited um Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria and several middle schools in Virginia and in Minnesota where I now live to share the sitin story and my writing process. And then some schools invited me to come and um extend their learning experience for their students by after they'd read the book. and DC, there was a DC elementary school that um used the book with their fifth graders. And then Tucker Elementary has copies in um the third, fourth, and fifth grade classes so that students can use them when they're learning about um Tucker in the sitin. And then at two middle schools in Virginia, teachers collaborated with um the school librarians to create learning experiences that incorporated the standards and skills in language arts, history, and research. And students read Tucker's biography to gain knowledge um about the sitin. And then they work through activities and learning activities, websites and stations um to explore primary and secondary sources to increase their knowledge. And then activities were designed for students to demonstrate their skills uh and their mastery of skills and their understanding of the city and its historical context. This was um one of the learning stations at Manasses um middle school and these students were exploring the meaning of civil rights and what separate but equal uh looks like and why segregation and massive resistance really was unfair. And at this station um the sit-in chapter of the book, my book was um photocopied and enlarged and then and also cut up and then the students were asked to match questions with answers from that sitin chapter and then close pin them to enlarged posters of the various sections that were arranged chronologically on the laundry line. And so this gave the students um a way of um demonstrating their understanding but in the process they um also reinforced beginning, middle and end of stories. And at the um end of this unit um the the um students invited me to come and talk to them and they were able to ask ask and and hear me answer questions in person. And then at Hampton, um that was another middle school and they expanded their students ability to um to analyze and think and discuss. Uh they compared the library sitin with the Little Rock Nine and they learned to read for information in text boxes and in non-fiction texts and how to make inferences based on what they'd read. And for their final demonstration of their learning, they created words on a Lego board that represented non-violent solutions for everyday and present-day conflicts. And again, learning was extended when the students um emailed me questions and then invited me to come so that they could ask me questions in person. And then what was really exciting and unexpected was when I got a a phone call or an email from um from a middle school teacher in California and he said he had a one of his students who wanted to do a national history day project on um on the sitin and would I help? Of course. Well, Natalie um used Tucker's bi biography and then researched uh using additional sources and she called me several times to um ask questions um while she was working on the project and to ask for advice. And Natalie's project won at the local level and was a runner up at the California state competition. So that was just really exciting and um a demonstration of of how broadly the story resonates with people. >> Thanks so much Nancy. Thanks so much Annie. We'll now be joined by Lisa and Jennifer. Okay Lisa, let's start with you. So your focus thus far on this project has been highlighting local storytellers and elevating the work that has gone into preserving and honoring the the work of Samuel Tucker and the library sit in and the Alexandria community. I know that New America received a grant from the Melon Foundation to build an a digital exhibit in partnership with the library and the office of historic Alexandria. So, please tell us a little bit about what the next phase of this project is and what it will entail. >> Yes, thanks so much, Jasmine. Um, first I just want to note that we really are building on the legacy of others, including everyone you just heard from. Um, that includes what Annie and Nancy shared and and Annie, thank you so much. I'm sorry that we weren't able to show um your slides and we're going to we'll find ways to get those out to everybody who's attending as well. Um but I'm just so it was really exciting to be on that project. Virginia Humanities um helped provide the the funding for the work with the high school interns as well as all the lesson plans that that um Annie has been building through New American History. And Nancy, you've been such an inspiration because you were the first to recognize that this is a story that um really could be told to younger students and and here's how to do it. So, that's been an inspiration from the beginning. Um we also I just wanted to note that there's other ways that media um and technology have been used over the years that have been inspiring our work at New America. That includes Matt Spangler, who he might even be in the audience here with us, who um was a documentary filmmaker who created the first documentary about the library sitin. Um we did a long interview with Matt in our video interview series that's also part of our project. And also Weta, our local um in the Washington DC area public television station has done a beautiful piece in their Boundary Stone series that students can use as well called Fighting Jim Crow at the library. Lastly, I'll note, and we'll put the link to this later in the chat, uh Rodney Freeman, who is a librarian in North Carolina and the creator of documentary films, he has a new exhibit out called Voices of Colored Libraries and Segregated America. We're learning a lot from Rodney's work as well. So, I just wanted to note all of that before I jump into what we're going to be working on next because all of this builds on itself, right? It's this is this is what makes this so compelling, but it just it takes it takes a it takes a village in so many ways to do this work. So, what we'll be doing now um in this next piece of work, it's just so exciting. Um, we will be in partnership with Alexandria Library and the Office of Historic Alexandria, in particular in partnership with Audrey and Rose and also in partnership with Rinold, this incredible communications and web and marketing firm in um in Alexandria. We are will all be working together uh to build an open immersive online exhibit. And this is one that will be we'll be building on some of what you've already heard about. So we'll be using resources from that Alexandria Library digitization project that Rose talked about um that was funded by National Archives funds and enabled all of those collections to be um digitized and made available online. We'll also be drawing from various interviews that have been captured on video over the years, including some in our own um video work that we did two years ago with 12 different community members. Many of you might also be on this call with us um this this event with us today. Um but we will be going even further than that. Um because the work that Ryold is is going to be able to do will really enable us to kind of harness the affordances of interactive media to bring a more interactive experience to the public and not just to those who might be in Alexandria, right? But once we can put things up online in this way, that means that we really can open up the story to even more people across the country and across the world who can click into the story and immerse themselves in this story and all of the precursors to it as well as what happened next. and that and often it's that that really becomes the most compelling and can kind of drive us to um to progress and to and to want to help um ensure that these kinds of civil rights stories um are are told but also that we learn from them. So we are going to be working on this exhibit with Jennifer Over and her team at Rinold and I'm going to shift it over now to you Jennifer who can tell us a little bit more about what we'll be seeing when this exhibit is is finally complete. Thank you, Lisa. Pleasure to be with you all today. Um, Ryan Goldold is so excited and honored to be part of this project. Um, when we started working with the folks at New um, New America Foundation, um, this was the first time for many of us on our team to learn about the story of the sitin and um, see some of the artifacts and materials that were available that um, helped to tell that story. And this has really just been a dream opportunity for us to um leverage these you know new uh digital media technologies to share the story in a very immersive way. Um it is particularly interesting because this is a story about restricting access to information and at this time in our modern history we are so accustomed to um sort of unfettered access to information on the web. So using this, you know, web medium um which so many people have access to to tell the story of restricting access and what that might actually feel like to be um you know unable to attain the same information as your neighbors. Um it's just really interesting and um you know kind of kind of an emotional story to tell. So, we've been so excited to work with Lisa and the team um as they gather um imagery, videos, audio um that have all been digit digitized and bring them together into a story. This is um some images from a prototype that we worked with them to create um as they were uh applying for the the grant. And um when you get to see the actual online exhibit, you will see the you know kind of full rich experience with animation and sound and video. Um so we hope that all of you will visit the online exhibit when it goes live and you know share it um through your network. Um, and uh, we want to spread the story to as many people as possible. Um, particularly young people, um, future activists, um, people who might not otherwise get to, um, learn about the story if they don't grow up in that area. >> Thanks so much, Jennifer. Thanks so much, Lisa. >> Um, and a big thank you to all of the panelists for joining us. Um, sorry, Lisa, were you trying to jump in? I was going to say we will we will be able to move into some Q&A now. Um and I just want to say thank you to you Jasmine for for carrying us through to this to this point. So I was going to encourage those um who are with us feel free to put some questions into the Q&A. Um I think it's in the Q&A box or the chat. I think you you have a slightly different view than I do. So um if you can put those questions in. But um we we are excited to be able to share all of this and let me maybe get us started if I can with a a a question um that gets back to this I mean I'm just going to set the stage like I we are in a crazy moment and so many levels right everything that Ted just described um in terms of where we are kind of politically and division in our country and people trying to kind of figure out kind of what stories to tell But on on top of that we are in a really I would say you know we're on a precipice when it comes to a technological moment as well where there is both so much new technology in media that's coming at us and we the dizziness of what is AI even going to mean but there's also an understandable backlash to um using digital media right in learning spaces um and so we have this conflict fluence of both really needing to ensure that civil rights stories are told and told in ways that reach young audiences where they are and we have this these concerns that are bubbling up around what does it mean to even be using um digital media today. So maybe I'll I'll just maybe kick that off because that's been on my mind quite a bit. Um and see if there's some of you who might want to answer answer that question or if this is also coming up for you. Um and then we'll you know take some questions of others from the audience even just have particular people who are on the panel um or anything more you want to hear a little bit more about let us know. Um but yeah just wanted to open it up for for that and Jasmine you two please feel free to jump in. Yes, Annie. So, I I actually wrote a whole blog post about this in last month's newsletter for New American History because I had just gotten back from the largest GIS conference in the world. I mean, there's 20,000 people in a convention center in San Diego. I was completely overwhelmed. Um, there aren't even that many people in the community where I live. So, um, so we, you know, there they were calling it tech lash, right? The tech backlash. And Dr. Dr. S and I have thought a lot about this because we are an all digital humanities project. Everything we create is digital and he always says that we're trying to democratize access to the archives and and resources because so many schools don't have money to upgrade their textbooks. They haven't had money to buy new materials in so long. And also he was a very early adopter of this technology in his career as a historian. And I benefited from that as a classroom teacher. You know, I was right as the internet was becoming a thing, I was entering the classroom and my students 100% responded much more favorably when they felt like they could find the pieces they were most interested in. Right? So, girls were looking for for family stories. Boys were looking for soldiers dossas through this Civil War um archive that he put together. And then he's gone on, you know, to work with all these digital maps, which is what inspired me to start using maps to tell stories. That's how we found this platform, the story map platform that the students created, the Alexandria Library sit in. Uh and I think giving kids tools where they become the creators of the content, not just passive consumers. The kids that worked on this project and other projects like this that we've done, they will always remember this experience. Nancy, those kids, that young lady that did the history day project, she will always remember that experience. No child will ever remember a multiple choice test question that they took ever. That is not something that will stick in their head. They'll look back on it as, "Gee, I really love those 50 questions they made me answer every year at the end of the year." No child will ever say that. But kids will remember the story of Samuel Tucker. They will remember stories like Barbara John's. They will remember that they made a map that then the next year kids all over Virginia and all over America started using. The kids that made that map, one of them graduated last year. She's off to college. Another young man is going into the level two to learn even better skills to make more projects like this. Students will remember these stories because they are told in a way that you can't get that from a textbook, right? So I I agree we have too many kids on too many screens. Social media is not helping kids mental health-wise in many ways. But we have to make sure that we separate what are good uses of technology that are more effective than what we grew up with with a flat textbook or a flat map and separate that from people who are using tech to bully kids or spread misinformation or lead people, you know, away from the things that are really important that Ted spoke about that are happening in our country right now and trying to distract them with nonsense. And technolog is really good with the AI slop and whatnot of fabricating and distracting. That's a skill we also need to teach our students. How do you figure out what is real? So we call that lateral reading. If you are going to study Alexandri Library sit in, don't just look at our lesson and don't just look at NY's Ryan Gold exhibit and don't just read NY's book. You need to look at that and look at three or four credible sources and say how is this being told slightly differently and how which things are matching up. If three sources say this is what went down, that's probably a pretty good barometer, right? >> If you're getting four completely different versions, we need to keep factchecking. >> Thanks so much. Yeah, Annie, I think it's fascinating um pieces you're bringing up here. um we can thread that into the next answers, but I did get a we've gotten a couple of questions that have come in from um the audience and I wanted to make sure we get to these. Um one is that um from Dorothy. She's noticed on the history page of the Alexandria Library that the official opening of the library was August 21st, 1937. Has Samuel Tucker ever addict described deliberately choosing that date for the library sitin? a two-year later date. Now, I know Rose, you'll probably want to answer this this question. Um, and so I'm going to, yeah, pop it over to you. Did you hear me? Um, yes, it was intentional um what they put together and um he was a very uh he was a smart man and this was very well organized and he anticipated every move where this was concerned. You've got to remember Tucker graduated. He did not go to law school. um he passed the bar and was too young to even accept um the fact that his admittance he had to wait a month or two until he would be the appropriate age. And so yes, everything that he did was very strategic and intentional. >> Yeah, I find it so brilliant. I I keep having to remind myself that even the word sit in was not that was not a concept that was not a word that was used in 1939. um sitdown strike was um I should definitely flag many of you probably know the incredible book by um Brenda Mitchell Powell that um tells an very um comprehensive um in-depth account of the sitin but what became before and what came after and so for these um for these young men to be thinking together like this to work together like this um to be inspired by other things that were happening in various kind of sitdown strikes is what they were calling them in other places and to do this is just it's just incredible to think about. Um and Ted, you pointed out to the bravery. It's just the just that that both to to be able to do this to have that kind of um pride in your country to want to do this to bring people um to a new place and to a new understanding of what's fair is is amazing. Um so thank you. There's a question that's come in um from let's see I'll read a few of these. Um, one is from um, a middle school educator in Alexandria. Thank you, Sheila, for writing in. She says, "I'm thrilled about the impact of this project and what impact it may have on my students. I'd like to know if any panelists are open to speaking with local students about this work." So, I'll couple that one with another comment that came in from Marissa Ross, I'm sorry, Moss, um, that it would be good for libraries to support picture books that tell these kinds of stories. And there is a picture book that has been um, that is out there. And I've actually seen this book as well. It's it's beautiful. Um a new picture book called Fight for the Right to Read by Jeff Gosfield and Michelle Green, illustrated by Jim, I'm sorry, by Kim Hol. Um so yes, agree, Marissa. Kids and teachers need to read this incredibly inspiring story. Um and then lastly, one question and then I'll get back to you guys to answer all of these together. Um um we also were asked are there places where people can go where they can um they can do add their own stories um to something like this? Is there a way that people can continue to get involved in this kind of evolving um project? Um, so u that's there's a lot to to digest there, but I'm just curious about about reactions to this. And for those of you who um are involved and might want to go talk to schools and school students about this, um, what do you think? >> We will be looking for teachers to write more lessons once uh, Jennifer's group gets the whole digital exhibit up. So once all the pieces are there, we are always looking for curriculum writers and we compensate teachers to do this. Um and we would really love to work with Alexandria teachers especially since this is your community story, but um you know we we do go into classrooms if that would be helpful. I'm sure that Audrey and Rose and Nancy are a little bit more local. I don't know, you know, what their schedules would permit, but um, you know, part of our work is not just creating these lessons, but it's also going to classrooms and showing teachers and students how to use them and how to access them. So, they can always contact me, um, if they're looking for some help with that or just help navigating the lessons. >> Um, where the library is concerned, we actually do invite classes over over the years. Um, we put together uh a a a pretty much a program that was designed and and geared towards third and fourth graders um using our exhibit. We also have an exhibit that we created more than one so that if a school wanted to borrow it and so currently one of the exhibits is scheduled to be like today I am hoping it is over at Sam Tucker Elementary. the other year when we unveiled the exhibit, we unveiled it at Sam Tucker Elementary. And so that's one of the things that we are very mindful of is how the schools need to be able to celebrate this. And so we're happy if you are interested in doing that. And yes, um, the other year I will tell you I was tired of hearing me because when we celebrated the 85th anniversary, you all were very generous and kind and I was doing a lot of public speaking about the the sitin as I I also recognized that my colleague Audrey when I wasn't somewhere we we often over overlapped or she was doing one and I'd be doing one the following week. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Right. If I could just just add that um since the the Tucker's biography was published in um 2013, I've visited many many elementary schools, middle schools um and now I live in Minnesota, which is, you know, adds a different kind of challenge. But I've done um presentations here in Minnesota um at libraries, senior centers, historical societies. Um, I'm just amazed at how eager people are to learn about this undertold story and I'm happy to go any place and and tell the story again. Well, thanks. We're we're almost at time and I do want to very quickly have a moment to just do get some quick thoughts um from all of you as we conclude. Um just zooming way out and just recognizing the the energy of this event and and and the stimulation, right, the mental interest, this the stimulation that comes from being able to talk about these kinds of stories. Um so what what should we take from that? What does that mean to you? So Ted, do you mind starting us off on that and then I'll go to a few more of you around the screen? >> Yeah, sure thing. I mean, I think the the first point is one that someone brought up already and that uh it's the age of the this the students that were protesting. I think Martin Luther King was like 26 27 when he led the Montgomery bus boycott that changed the civil rights movement. So this, you know, you don't really have to wait your turn to create change where you live. And so I think that's that's uh one thing. The the second is where we just left off on the power of stories. And I'm telling you, as again another panelist said, when um you are presented information in the context of a story, it stays with you in ways that wrote recitation never ever will. And there too, you don't have to just listen to other people's stories. You can tell your own stories. And learning how to tell that story is an art all its own. And uh I think just a another um skill set that that our young people can take in whatever they they decide to do with their life, the ability to tell a good story. And I'll end with and the um one thing I would encourage especially young people to do is interview your parents, your grandparents. The the history that you seek isn't just in books or outside your homes. Sometimes it's your own family members that have stories about um how your family came to be and where you live that uh can rival anything you pick up in a book. So uh start start at home. >> Thanks Ted. >> Any else want to bite on that question. the whole notion of six degrees of separation. When we started celebrating the sitting in a big way and um uh as Ted talks about recognizing and hearing the stories that come from out of your family history, one of the proudest moments for us and for me was when we were able to get the charges dismissed. So as we listen to the whole thing about restorative justice there um continuously throughout history rights we we need to write certain wrongs and so as we study this it does um tie in very well with what's going on in our present day and it helps us think about what it is we want to do to ensure that our future looks even brighter. So I do feel like as we do these sorts of things and talk about the sitin story, it ties in beautifully with so many different things that the connections are there and our and our young people need to recognize them for what they are. >> Thank you so much, Rose. So we actually are at time um and um so we'll we'll just be able to continue this conversation over the next year or so. the the the exhibit that Ryan Gold is building in partnership with us will be available to people hopefully this time next year or sometime around there. So keep you know um stay tuned and we'll have many more occasions then to be able to bring more people into this and to have these kinds of conversations. And to that last one of those last questions about kind of how to be involved at New America, we love hearing from others um that want to want to get connected into this. Um but our partners through the Alexandria Library and um and the Office of Historic Alexandria are always open to to that as well. So um you can tap into many of us who've been on this call and um and we will yeah maybe see you on the other side of having created this this amazing exhibit. But thanks to everybody. Thank you Jasmine for um moderating and keeping us going and to Ted, Audrey, Rose, Nancy, Jennifer, and Annie. And to our team um in the studio. Have a great day, everybody. Thanks.