Happy Juneteenth, library lovers, the day in which all Americans commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. June 19, 1865, was the day Union Army General Gordon Granger by special announcement proclaimed freedom for all enslaved people living in Texas.

The Library was closed Monday in observance of this National Holiday, but we are open bright and early on Tuesday offering anyone who walks through our doors (or accesses our resources online) a path to a brighter tomorrow.

One American who understood the life-changing opportunities which exist within a public library was the late Rep. Elijah Cummings who passed away on October 17, 2019.

"The people who helped me the most were the librarians," said Rep. Cummings in an interview with Steve Kroft of 60 minutes 9 months before his death.

Rep. Cummings, whose parents were sharecroppers that worked the same plot of land their ancestors worked as slaves, spoke to 60 minutes about being a sixth-grader assigned to special education classes.

“I felt like a caged bird," Cummings told Kroft. "I can do better than that."

With a voice often choked with tears and emotion, Rep cummings described his relationship with the librarians at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, which was then the only integrated institution in his neighborhood.

The librarians at Enoch Pratt would work with young Cummings long after the library closed, finding resources and tutoring the sixth-grader on their own time. With the librarians’ help, Cummings was able to shed the confines of special ed classes. The cage had been opened.

"They believed in me," said Rep. Cummings, adding the fact that the librarians being white taught him a valuable lesson: “There are a lot of good people that really care.”

Rep. Cummings walked forward into a very bright future indeed, becoming a lawyer and eventually a longtime United States Congressman representing his beloved Baltimore.

I urge everyone to please watch the video link provided. It makes me proud of our national free public library system. It also makes me proud to serve as a librarian here in Delray Beach and proud of the librarians I work with.

Mykal Banta
Delray Beach Public Library

Click Here To View Delray Beach Public Library The Next Chapter - June 21, 2022