A Library Undoes a Wrong - 73 Years Later

Post #2,499

Olivia Raney Local History Library, Raleigh, NC

Even though it should never have happened, and even though it took 73 years to finally make it right, a library in North Carolina has reached out to a would-be patron it treated badly way back in 1942.  

Pearl Thompson is now 93-years-old, but in 1942 she was a 21-year-old college student who needed to borrow a book she needed for her studies.  Thompson, an African-American, was told that she could not leave the library with the book.  Rather, she was directed to take it into the basement of the library where she could prepare notes from the text.

CNN.com tells the rest of the story: 

When local librarians were told her story, they reached out to her in Cincinnati, where she now lives, Burlingame said.

And after a wait that spanned generations, an elated Thompson finally got a Wake County library card Thursday during a ceremony at the Cameron Village Regional Library. 

"It's going to take me a while to get to you," she told the library staff as she walked toward them to get the card with the help of a walker, according to The News & Observer. "But it's been a long journey anyway."

For a bit more on what Mrs. Thompson did with the rest of her life, click on The News & Observer link, just above.