Free to All: The Public Library & Discovery of Lost Floyd County Librarian Annie McPheeters

Name: Free to All: The Public Library & Discovery of Lost Floyd County Librarian Annie McPheeters
Start: 2025-04-12T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Sara Hightower Library

Schedule

Sat, 12 Apr, 2025 at 03:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Sara Hightower Library | Rome, GA

The story of how a simple idea shaped a nation, and the quiet revolutionaries who made it happen. Libraries and Librarians have always stood for the public good and universal access to knowledge. This idea shaped America, and now there are fights within our country about continuing to provide access to all information for all people.
Northwest Georgia has always had a strong library system, from the early 1900's Carnegie libraries to the Sara Hightower Regional Library today. Someone that has been virtually erased from the history books is Annie McPheeters, a granddaughter of slaves that was born in what is now Shannon, Floyd County. McPheeters was barred from entering the segregated Carnegie Library when it opened in Rome in 1911 but went on to be the first black head librarian in Atlanta.
Hear her story during the film and afterwards during a Q&A with a representative from the Sara Hightower Library and Leanne Cook, executive director of the Rome International Film Festival and President of the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation. If the weather is good the Q&A will be held in the beautiful library garden.