Construction Finally Underway for
African-American Research Library
More than 18 months after a ceremonial groundbreaking, a bulldozer dug into a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, site April 23 to start construction of the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center for the Broward County Division of Libraries. Plagued by design delays, the $11.4-million facility that will serve as one of three major U.S. black research centers is now slated to open in August 2002, BCL Director Sam Morrison told American Libraries.
“This is a major step for the African-American community here,” said fund-raiser Ellyn Walters, who garnered support from the black community and raised $400,000, according to the April 24 Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Broward Public Library Foundation Executive Director Kay Harvey, who led the corporate campaign, said the challenge was due to the center’s location: “It’s not in Los Angeles or New York.”
Nevertheless, Harvey raised more than $11 million for the 52,000-square-foot center that already is drawing items from major collectors and will specialize in materials on migration of blacks from the Caribbean and South America to the United States. Another $2 million is needed for books and furnishings, and to set up an endowment. “Never give up,” said Morrison at the site. “It’s what sustained African-American people in this country.”
Posted April 30, 2001.
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