The City of Roanoke is pleased to announce an upcoming unveiling ceremony for the Gainsboro Library Historical Marker, celebrating the profound historical significance of the Gainsboro Branch Library within the NW Roanoke community. The ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, at 4:00 pm, and will take place at the Gainsboro Branch Library located at 15 Patton Ave. in NW Roanoke.
Mayor Sherman Lea, Director of Roanoke Public Libraries, Sheila Umberger and Rev. Nelson Harris (historian) plan to share at the event, highlighting the historical importance of the Gainsboro Library that reflects Gainsboro neighborhood traditions and culture.
“The mission of the Roanoke Public Libraries is to engage, educate, and empower the Roanoke community,” said Sheila S. Umberger. “With this historical marker we are excited to tell the story of the Gainsboro Branch Library and its significance to Roanoke’s Black history. The library is a point of pride in the community and we are thrilled that it is being honored.”
Rev. Harris made the application for the marker with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. That organization oversees the state highway marker program that is the oldest system of historical roadside markers in the country! Their goal is to link important stories about Virginia’s past to the very landscape where they took place.
The Gainsboro Branch Library was founded as a result of local Black activism and the first public library for African Americans in western Virginia and it was also only the second in the state. It originally opened in the Odd Fellows Hall at 446 Gainsboro Ave. NW in December 1921 and then moved to its current location in May 1942. The library became a center of Black intellectual and social life by hosting lectures, conferences, reading clubs, and exhibitions. Librarian Virginia Young Lee, who served from 1928 to 1971, developed a regionally significant collection of Black literature, history books, and ephemera. With the arrival of Mrs. Lee as librarian, the branch increased its holdings, circulation, and attention to special collections pertaining to Black culture. Defying City officials’ attempts to censor some of this material in the 1940s, she continued to make it accessible in the library’s basement. Since the 1960s, integration and urban removal have diminished the size and the self- contained cultural vitality of Roanoke’s Gainsboro Neighborhood. However, the Gainsboro Library continues to provide valuable resources to the community including circulation services, adult and children’s programming, and historical research assistance regarding Roanoke’s African American history. The library also houses and maintains the largest printed collection of African American history in the Roanoke Public Library system. Come join us on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at 4:00 pm, as we honor the Gainsboro Branch Library’s enduring legacy and its invaluable contribution to preserving the cultural heritage of Roanoke. Your presence at this unveiling ceremony will help us pay tribute to the library’s rich history and its ongoing commitment to education and empowerment.
For further information please contact
The Office of Community Engagement, communityengagement@roanokeva.gov
