Browse Exhibits (1 total)

Four Women: A Dunbar Branch Centennial shares the story of Lynchburg's first public library branch for African-Americans.

In 1908, the George M. Jones Memorial Library opened in Lynchburg as Virginia's second public library. The library was made possible because Mary Frances Watts Jones donated $50,000 to construct the library in memory of her late husband, George Morgan Jones.

The gift of the library was the result of a dispute over George's will. In exchange for Mary's gift of a library, the Lynchburg court legally recognized the adoption of the couple's fourth daughter.

Incorporated under restrictive Jim Crow laws, the 1904 deed that settled the lawsuit and created the Jones Memorial Library association specified by 'parties of the second part' that the library was for the "free use of the white people of this community without respect to religious or sectarian distinctions."  

Between 1908 and 1924, public library service was only available to the city's white residents. In 1923, Dunbar High School opened as a segregated school serving "colored" students.  The following year, Jones Memorial Library opened the Dunbar Branch.  Housed inside Dunbar High School, the branch offered library services to students and residents alike.

This digital exhibit shares the story of the Dunbar Branch's early years and the women who helped establish it and served as its first librarians. Through historic documents that include minutes, letters, pamphlets, and blueprints, the exhibit details Lynchburg's journey towards integrated library services.