Troy University will play host to a lecture Feb. 18 about a key library program that gave many black Americans access to libraries.

Dr. Aisha Johnson-Jones will deliver the lecture, “The African American Struggle for Library Equality: The Untold Story of the Julius Rosenwald Fund Library Program” Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in Sony Hall at the university’s Dothan Campus.

This lecture unveils one of the key philanthropic efforts of Julius Rosenwald, former president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., who desired to “improve the well-being of mankind” through access to education.

Rosenwald founded the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which established more than 5,300 rural schools in 15 southern states from 1917 through 1938.

Johnson-Jones will explain how Rosenwald’s library program established more than 10,000 school, college and public libraries, funded library science programs that trained black librarians, and made evident the need for libraries to be supported by local governments.

This is the first in the 2020 Spring Lecture series at the Dothan Campus.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Marty Olliff at 334-983-6556 ext. 21327.

This lecture is sponsored by Troy University and supported by a generous grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation.