A HISTORY OF FISK UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: 150 YEARS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLIC HISTORY AND CULTURE, 1866 – 2016

Abstract

On January 9, 1866, a formal ceremony opened the doors of Fisk Free Colored School to educate whites and newly freed slaves in Nashville, Tennessee. This dissertation will argue that from the institution’s opening in 1866, Fisk University Library evolved from a passive role of providing materials for students, faculty, and the public to a leadership role in the effort to collect, preserve, and shape the study of African American history and culture. By the twenty-first century, the library was a premier African American historical organization with connections to every sub-field of public history: oral history, archival science, historic preservation, programming, museum curatorship, documentary films, and digital humanities. Overall, this research will explore the various ways an underrepresented and under-studied group of people used their power and agency to produce a new historical narrative that included the contributions of Africans and African Americans to global society.