The Foundation of Cossitt Library and the Inauguration of Library Service to African Americans in Memphis and Shelby County

The quasi-public library of Memphis, the Cossitt Library, was founded as a philanthropic institution in 1888. The first branch that served African Americans was established within the walls of the LeMoyne Institute. Later, service was extended through another branch in Howe Institute—which was later closed—and then a standalone branch that moved several times in the 1930s before settling on a plot on Vance Avenue. The discrepancy between funding and services offered to African American and white Memphians both shaped and was shaped by the strictures of Jim Crow segregation in the South.