Elonnie J. Josey (January 20, 1924 – July 3, 2009) was an African-American activist and librarian. Josey was the first chair of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, having been instrumental in its formation in 1970; served as president of the American Library Association from 1984 to 1985; and was the author of over 400 books and other publications.
Early life Josey was born Elonnie Junius Josey in Norfolk, Virginia to Willie and Frances Bailey Josey.Roger M. Valade III, The Essential Black Literature Guide, Visible Ink, in association with the Schomburg Center, 1996; p. 204. His mother completed teacher-training school and taught for one year before marrying Josey's father, a WWI veteran who worked as a laborer at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Josey credits his mother for encouraging him to pursue reading and creativity. The Josey family moved to the Mount Hermon section of Portsmouth, Virginia shortly after Josey's birth, where he was raised with four siblings. The family attended the Celestial Baptist Church, where Josey "found his love of God and music". Josey attended the segregated Mount Hermon Elementary School and I. C. Norcom High School, where he excelled academically.
Josey's father died when he was a sophomore in high school, and Josey graduated early to earn money as a dishwasher, porter, and stock clerk as well as by playing the piano and organ at neighborhood churches. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on May 18, 1943, and served in an all-Black squadron in the South as an assistant to chaplains and as an organist. Josey was able to use a non-segregated library in the army and he noted, "The opportunity to read a wide variety of materials in the Army caused me to continue my quest for knowledge and revived my desire for a college education". His army service ended in 1946.
Josey enrolled in Howard University in 1947 and graduated in 1949, majoring in history. He received his master's in History from Columbia University in 1950 and a master's in librarianship from the University at Albany, SUNY in 1953 being the second African American to do so.Goedeken 1998, p. 192 While at Columbia, Josey worked as a desk assistant in the Journalism Library and in several other jobs in departmental libraries, and was "encouraged to pursue librarianship as a career by his supervisor, Basil Miller". Josey joined the American Library Association in 1952 but like other African American librarians, his application to join the Georgia Library Association was rejected. In 1965, he would become the first African American librarian of the Georgia Library Association after he led a protest against the Southern state library associations.
Career Immediately after graduating from library school in 1953, Josey was recruited into a position in a branch library at the Free Library of Philadelphia by Emerson Greenaway.To Be Black and a Librarian: Talking with E. J. Josey. (2000). American Libraries, 31(1), 80. With support from his minister, Reverend Leon Sullivan, Josey successfully advocated to be transferred to a position that could make use of his master's degree in history as part of the social science section. Unfortunately, Josey experienced racism from existing staff with lesser credentials who resented his advanced degree and the ability to answer questions from patrons that his colleagues could not answer, and he was assigned clerical tasks beneath his abilities. As a result, Josey stayed just one year at the Free Library before deciding to leave the profession, accepting a position as a history instructor in social sciences at Savannah State College in Savannah, Georgia, where he remained for one year.
Josey was recruited into the position of assistant professor and Director of the Library at Delaware State College in Dover, Delaware in September, 1955 as part of a re-accreditation effort, and was able to obtain certification for the library two years later. A major initiative was the "Library Culture Program" which featured authors such as Langston Hughes, Kay Boyle, and Elizabeth Vroman. He remained at Delaware State until 1959. In this position Josey also began his career as an author, writing a series of articles while in the position about library management, library accreditation, and library use. He also began his first position as editor, of the Delaware Library Association Bulletin—the first African American in the role. In recognition of Josey's many accomplishments in the state, he was appointed to a statewide school librarian certification revision committee by the Delaware State Department of Public Instruction. While at Delaware, Josey also met and married Dorothy Johnson and became a father to Elaine Jacqueline Josey, his only child.
In 1959, Josey was invited to return to Savannah State College by the president to oversee the building of a new library facility, and he served as chief librarian and associate professor there until 1996. During Josey's tenure, he implemented two programs that "attracted large numbers of whites into the Savannah State College campus for the first time"; as a result, the library was recognized in 1962 and 1964 by the American Library Association's John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations award. Josey was also able to increase library circulation from 20 to 39 percent as the result of a multi-year summer reading program to improve incoming students' independent reading. Josey was the faculty advisor for the debate team and Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, and supported students' founding of a local chapter of the NAACP.
In 1966, Josey joined the New York State Education Department in its Division of Library Development as an Associate in the Bureau of Academic and Research Libraries. In this position he "developed and improved services for the 216 academic and research libraries in New York. In 1968 he was promoted to Chief of the Bureau of Academic and Research Libraries and held that position until 1976 when he was appointed Chief, Bureau of Specialist Library Services, New York State Library. While in these roles, Josey implemented the New York State interlibrary loan system, providing access to 72,000 libraries around the world.
Educator for Library and Information Science The next phase of Josey's career involved education for librarianship. From 1970 until his retirement in 1995, Josey served on the North Carolina Central University's library school advisory council, supporting student recruitment and faculty research; mentoring students; and enhancing collections. In 1986, he was recruited to the University of Pittsburgh School of Library and Information Science as a senior professor, where he continued his civil rights activities and became even more well known for mentorship, teaching, scholarship, and recruitment. During Josey's first five years, the number of minority students increased from three to twenty-seven. He went on to receive emeritus status at the University of Pittsburgh.
Research and scholarship Josey authored more than 400 articles in library, educational, and history journals, and authored or edited thirteen books in the fields of education, history, and library science. Several works collected together and amplified the experiences of African American Librarians. The Black Librarian in America, published in 1970, is often noted as his seminal work. The book collects twenty-five autobiographical essays, including pioneers such as Virginia Lacy Jones, Augusta Baker, Binnie Tate Wilkin, A. P. Marshall, Miles Jackson, and Robert Wedgeworth. The book addressed "the widespread existence of racism in the profession and incorporated stories of segregation, bias, discrimination, and ignorance about Black librarianship." In The Black Librarian in America Revisited, published almost 25 years later, Josey collected thirty biographical and topical essays, including some authors from the original collection. The Handbook of Black Librarianship, co-edited with Ann Allen Shockley, was said by Josey to be his most prized work. The second edition, published in 2000, was co-edited with Marva DeLoach. Both editions provide insight into the critical issues confronted by African American Librarians. The chapter "Discrimination and Affirmative Action: Concerns for Black Librarians and Library Workers," included commentaries from twenty-three prominent librarians who "described frustration with being overlooked for promotions and director positions".
Josey served as editor of The Bookmark from 1976 to 1986, and as contributing editor to "Afro-Americans in New York Life and History." He also served on Multicultural Review educational advisory committee.
Activities in professional associations Active in the field of human rights, he was a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was elected vice president of the Albany, New York Branch in 1980 and 1981, and served as president from 1982 to 1986. He also served as President of the Albany Branch of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. Active in community affairs, he also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Albany County Opportunity, Inc., the local anti-poverty agency for four years.
Josey became a member of the American Library Association in 1952 after entering library school, and attended his first conference in 1957. At the 1964 annual conference, he authored the resolution forbidding Association officers and staff from participating in state associations "which are unable to meet fully the requirements of chapter status in ALA." This action led to the integration of the library association of several Southern states, and in 1965, he became the first Black librarian to be accepted as a member of the Georgia Library Association. In The Black Librarian in America (1970) Josey recalled the 1964 annual conference:
Josey was a key leader along with Effie Lee Morris and others in the formation of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, which formed in 1970; Josey was elected as the first chairman. He is now honored by having scholarships awarded in his name to African American library school students.
As an ALA member, Josey partnered with Clara Stanton Jones during her ALA presidency to object vigorously to the ALA film The Speaker due to its racist subject matter, and with cataloger and activist Sanford Berman to protest negative terminology in the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Josey and Berman continued this work for 20 years. Josey was also known for helping other librarians advance in professional associations; for example, he encouraged future ALA President Patricia G. Schuman to give her first speech and nominated her to run for ALA Council.
Josey was first elected to the ALA Council, the policy making body of the Association in 1970 and served until the summer of 2000, a period of 29 years. In 1979, he was elected to a four-year term on the ALA Executive Board. From 1980 to 1982, he served as Chair of the Cultural Minorities Task Force of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Having served on numerous ALA Committees, he chaired the ALA Committee on Pay Equity, the ALA Committee on Legislation, and the ALA International Relations Committee several times. Josey was nominated to the position of vice president and president elect in 1983.
Josey was the President of ALA in 1984–85. In his inaugural address on June 27, 1984, Josey articulated his presidential vision: