School Desegregation Is Topic for Friends of the Library Fall Forum

Sonia Yaco, the University Libraries' special collections librarian and university archivist, will speak on "Who Will Remember Hampton Roads' School Desegregation? Old Dominion University Libraries' Role in Preserving History" for the Friends of the Library Fall Forum. It begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in room 151 of the Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library.

Few of the records about school desegregation in Virginia are publicly available, putting at risk an important moment in the commonwealth's history. Yaco will discuss how we can preserve our history so that the 100th anniversary of the end of Massive Resistance is not commemorated with silence.

To address this issue, Yaco founded and co-chairs a statewide organization, Desegregation of Virginia Education (DOVE), which seeks to identify, locate and preserve records that document Virginia's school desegregation process.

ODU Libraries leads this year-old organization, which includes members from 18 institutions in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The Special Collections and University Archives currently have one of the largest collections of school desegregation in the commonwealth. This material has been used as the basis of two recent books on Hampton Roads school desegregation, including "Hampton Roads: Remembering Our Schools," which Yaco co-authored.

Yaco's talk, sponsored by Friends of the Old Dominion University Libraries, is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Parking Garage B on 43rd Street, next to the Perry Library.

For more information contact Alice McAdory at 683-3685 or amcadory@odu.edu.