Revealing a forgotten past: How Bessie Bullock transformed the Brooklyn Public Library Part One

Bessie Bullock was a Brooklyn Public Library librarian who loved the people of Brooklyn. As a community outreach librarian, she discovered ways that the library could transform the lives of her Brooklyn neighbors. Her important story is forgotten today, both at the library and in her Brooklyn community.

Bessie is one of those important people who often get overlooked by history. Unlike her librarian co-workers Major Owens or Miriam Braverman, Bessie did not go on to have important roles in the US Congress or Columbia University. Bessie was a doer, for decades she kept at her post as a neighborhood librarian. Her work transformed libraries and greatly improved the lives of the people of Brooklyn. ?This is Bessie Bullock’s story and why her story matters today.?

As time passes and communities change, librarians need to join with their neighbors to rediscover the purpose of their local library.? In Brooklyn, in the 1960s and 70s the community turned to Bessie Bullock, a Black librarian raised in Henderson North Carolina to help transform Brooklyn’s libraries.

Bessie was born in 1920 into a family that believed in community service.? Her grandmother Malissa Royster was the sole midwife in Henderson.? “Aunty Malissa” was who Black and white families called to help birth their babies.?

Her father, Burwell Bullock served on horseback in the American west with the 9th Cavalry.? He was one of the famous Buffalo Soldiers.? After six years in the saddle, Burwell briefly left the army in 1897 with a performance rating of “excellent.”? The following year, war loomed in the Spanish colony of Cuba.? To Black American men, liberating Cuba from Spain meant freeing thousands of Black families living in horrible conditions.? So Burwell Bullock re-enlisted with the Ninth Cavalry in 1898 believing he had the same duty to free oppressed people in Cuba as Black soldiers had during the American Civil War in his home state of North Carolina.? Later that year, on San Juan hill in Cuba, Burwell and other experienced Black troops from the 9th and 10th Cavalry over ran the Spanish Army positions and liberated Cuba from Spanish rule. During the battle, a Spanish artillery shell exploded near Burwell killing eight of his fellow soldiers and injuring eight including Burwell who lost a finger but kept fighting until the battle was over. He returned to North Carolina a hero and the Black community hoped they had done their part to free oppressed Cubans.? Sadly, they quickly saw that lives of Black Cubans did not improve under the Americans.? Local Henderson NC historian Anita Hawkins wrote: “America won, but not for the enslaved island people. Their new boss, America, began to exploit her and kept the natives in the same social and economic conditions as their former master had.”? When Spanish American War Veterans gathered in Henderson to reminisce, they noted bitterly that “they had freed the hare from the eagle for the hound.”? Burwell, despite his injured left hand, spent lifetime as owner/manager of Henderson’s grocery store.? He would fortunately live long enough to see his daughter Bessie take up his struggle for civil rights.

Bessie Bullock was likely most influenced by her mother Addie Royster Bullock. Addie taught school and raised four children.? During her forty year teaching career, Addie believed that the children in her classes needed her support in school and after school. In the evenings, she would bring Bessie and her bothers and sisters along as she visited the homes of her students. Bessie saw firsthand the power of connecting teachers, students and parents together not only at school, but also at home. Bessie would use this model in new ways later in her life.??

Addie made sure her children were highly educated, all four children went to college and each of her children graduated at the top of their classes.? Bessie attended North Carolina College for Negroes (today’s North Carolina Central University).? For many years Bessie’s college only offered teaching degrees, but in 1938 a dramatic change occurred.? The North Carolina General Assembly agreed to allow North Carolina College for Negroes to offer degrees in library science, history, art, and law.? Bessie, a recent graduate from her two year college (Bennett College) jumped at the chance to become a librarian in 1940. The Black community viewed Black librarians to be crucial leaders in the battle for civil rights, and following the example of her parents, Bessie committed her life to using libraries to battle racism. Bessie knew that in order to be effective in making positive change she would need to gain an education at the top schools in the country and experience working at libraries throughout the segregated South.? Leaving behind her family and community, Bessie spent the next six years traveling the United States.? She earned her masters in Library Science at the University of Chicago and then took library positions in high schools in Asheville and Charlotte North Carolina and next in Scotlandville Louisiana.? Finally in 1946 she landed a head librarian position at the “Free Colored Library” in the segregated city of Knoxville Tennessee.

As head librarian, Bessie finally was in a leadership position able to combat racism and empower Knoxville’s Black citizens.? Her father once used military service and her mother used education to advance racial equality, Bessie now used her role as head librarian to create change.? In 1947 Bessie organized a special event for children at the library about Black men and women who became leaders in politics, science and the arts.? In 1948 She held talks at the library introducing Black families to contemporary Black authors and their books. ?In 1948 Bessie was asked to speak to sorority women at the University of Tennessee on President Truman’s order to desegregate the Federal government and the US military. ?She also spoke to groups at local Black churches on topics such as “Children Helping to Build a Better World” and along with civil rights leader Bayard Rustin she joined a panel discussion on challenges facing youth. In 1949, for National Negro History Week, Bessie created an art exhibit at the Knoxville Library of arts and crafts created by Black painters, sculptors, weavers and basket makers.?

After three years in Knoxville, Bessie left the American South for New York City in 1949.?? There she took library science courses at Columbia while sharing an apartment with Jean Blackwell Hutson the librarian at the Schomburg Center for Black history.?

During this time Brooklyn library director Francis St. John aggressively recruited Black women and men from library graduate programs across the country and put them in leadership positions at local library branches across Brooklyn.? Black librarians Thelma Gipson led Dekalb Branch, Bessie Bullock served as Bedford Branch librarian and Major Owens directed the Stone Avenue Branch.? Director Francis St. John gave Black librarian Milton Byam the task of constructing and outfitting new branch libraries throughout Brooklyn.? Black librarian Hardy Franklyn was asked to develop a program to help adults learn to read, and Black librarian Spencer Shaw gained fame in Brooklyn and nationwide as a result of his innovative story telling programs.

Part Two: Bessie transforms her Brooklyn community