By Giovanni Samuels
Advocate for the Right to Read
Allegra Westbrooks was a pioneer in the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system. She advocated for the Black community’s right to access reading material and developed a strong connection between the community and branches within the system through outreach programs. Through her impressive career, she ensured that her love of books would be shared with as many as possible, against all odds.
Westbrooks was born in Cumberland, Maryland on March 16, 1921, but grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Her mother, a schoolteacher, showed her the world of books. This introduction kindled a love for literature within Westbrooks, which she would act on as a child by peering through the segregated windows of whites-only libraries to gaze at the abounding shelves. Putting her admiration for books into her career, she attended Clark Atlanta University, the first Historically Black College established in the South. Here she received her Bachelor of Science in library services.
In 1947, Westbrooks moved to Charlotte where she was hired by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (now Charlotte Mecklenburg Library). She worked as the head of Negro Library Services at the Brevard Street Library, one of the two Mecklenburg branches that served African Americans at the time. Early in her career, she was an advocate for the Black community’s right to access books, and in turn, their right to read. She worked to attract people to Brevard Street and its “sub-branch” Fairview Homes Public Housing on Oaklawn Avenue through numerous public outreach efforts.
At a time when segregation was an obstacle in the path of literacy for African Americans, Allegra started a campaign at Black churches where prominent speakers were to preach “the gospel of books and reading.” She also worked with organizations such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and Girl Scouts to encourage residents to visit the two library branches that served Black people. Along with encouraging the community to come to the libraries, she brought the books to the community. She eventually started a bookmobile program to further reading accessibility, bringing books to Black residents across Mecklenburg County. Even though these bookmobiles featuring African American literature were not permitted in public libraries in other parts of the county, Westbrooks stood outside of schools, encouraging Black children across Charlotte to read by ensuring they had reading material. She picked up titles requested by the community from the Main Library to bring back weekly.
Before the integration of the public library system, she was promoted to Head of Acquisitions at Main Library in 1950, where she impressed colleagues with her skills in coordination and her vast knowledge as a book specialist. After the official integration of the system on November 19, 1956, she was promoted yet again to Supervisor of Branches in 1957, making her the first African American to hold a supervisor title in a North Carolina library. With this position, she aided in the expansion of the county’s system with new branches. She continued to strengthen the bond between the libraries and the community by developing outreach programs within them, as well as encouraging locations to host book-related events to draw in locals.
Allegra worked in the system for 36 years before retiring from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in 1984. She remained active in Charlotte’s community until she died in 2017. In recognition of her plentiful contributions to the community and the county’s library system, the historical Beatties Ford Library was renamed in Westbrooks’s honor as the Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library (Beatties Ford Road) in April 2020. In this renaming, her legacy as a pillar of Charlotte’s African American community and library system will live on for generations.
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