Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-Down Strike for Library Reading Equality

Award-winning author Jeff Gottesfeld and #OwnVoices co-writer Michelle Y. Green introduce us to another important historical figure who deserves to be better known.

Along with illustrator Kim Holt, Gottesfeld and Green bring vibrant life to the story of Wilbert Tucker who grew up in the segregated South and became a lawyer who loved to read. In 1939, he organized a sit-down-in-the-library protest to fight for the right to read along with the rest of the public. It took many court cases and years of fighting, but Tucker fought with words and conviction until everyone could sit and read in the public library.