Black History Month: Remembering the Impact of Dryades and Nora Navra Libraries

Marie Simoneaux

Marie is the media & communications coordinator of the New Orleans Public Library

The New Orleans Public Library first opened its doors in 1897, but it would take more than 16 years for the Library to serve all New Orleanians.

In 1915, NOPL opened Dryades Library as the first “colored branch” in the city. Prior to that point, the only Black patrons allowed in the city’s six public libraries were attorneys, who were permitted to use the Library’s law books.

In the almost two decades before Dryades opened, Black leaders in New Orleans repeatedly called for a library, but were told there were no funds to open one. It wasn’t until education reformer James Hardy Dillard stepped in –– with help from local clergyman Robert E. Jones and encouragement from Booker T. Washington –– and convinced the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to back the project that the City agreed.

Built at the top of what is now-called Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, Dryades Library was located in the center of one of New Orleans’ most prosperous Black commercial areas. It opened on October 23, 1915 with 5,000 books and a two-person staff –– Adelia Trent and Delia Allen –– who were the first two librarians of color in New Orleans. Trent and Allen oversaw day-to-day activities at Dryades Library, which quickly became a pillar of the community.

For the next 31 years, Dryades Library would remain the only public library in New Orleans to welcome Black patrons. In addition to providing materials and activities, it was an important meeting place and was frequently used by local NAACP groups, Black business associations, the Negro Board of Trade, and many other community groups.

Elaine Parker Adams grew up in New Orleans and frequented the Library in the 1940s and 50s. She fondly remembers her time spent at Dryades Library, which she would visit with her sister almost every weekend. Funding records show that Dryades consistently received less money and materials than other libraries; but, when Adams and her sister were there, she said they did not feel like second-class citizens.

“The Dryades Street Library was a monumental building in our lives,” she recalled. “Walking up the central steps and the double staircases made us feel very important. The large rooms with polished wood floors and soft-lit chandeliers made the Library a source of elegant comfort. I think that one of the most striking features of the Dryades Street Library was how important that building and its staff made the patrons feel. The Library elevated us.”

Now in her 80s, Adams looks back on those trips knowing they would shape her life — including her career as a librarian, and, later, an author and educator.

Dryades Library opened in 1915 as the first New Orleans Public Library to serve Black patrons.

Branch 9 was a temporary library to serve New Orleans' Black residents while a permanent library was being built nearby.

In 1946, a local philanthropist named Nora Navra died and left a portion or her wealth to the Library to build a new location. For many years, Black community leaders had been calling on the City to open a second library, and it was decided that Navra’s gift would be used to build one in the 7th Ward.

Later that year, Library officials opened Branch 9 inside Valena C. Jones Elementary School as a temporary location while its permanent home was being built nearby. When school started in the fall, Branch 9 moved into an empty lot on St. Bernard Avenue and N. Prieur Street, where two army surplus huts had been converted into a makeshift library. For the next eight years, Branch Nine was an integral part of the community, frequently patronized by community leaders like A. P. Tureaud and Sybil Haydel-Morial.

On May 2, 1954 Tureaud gave the remarks at the newly opened Nora Navra Library’s dedication ceremony, stating, “Public facilities which are provided on a racially segregated basis are not only a drain on our economic resources, but are an outmoded relic of a slave psychology… Libraries tend to free the mind of bigotry and prejudice; they are supposed to be a civilizing influence on the community. We need more of them.”

For a brief moment, New Orleans had two public libraries for Black patrons. Less than two weeks later, the Supreme Court ruled on the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case and declared that separate is not equal. The New Orleans Public Library would soon follow suit, formally desegregating all locations.

However, as Lynne Taylor remembers, it took much longer for integration to be truly accepted. As a child growing up in the 1960s, she said Dryades and Nora Navra Libraries were still considered the only two options for her and her peers. And yet, Taylor fondly remembers the time she spent at Nora Navra Library, which was located steps from Corpus Christi school, where she attended.

“It was small, it was clean, it was warm, and I remember the librarians always being kind and helpful,” she recalled.

Both her parents were involved in the Civil Rights Movement, Taylor said, and were very protective of her and her sister. However, they also encouraged them to believe in progress and instilled in them a sense of hope over fear.

“Of course, we still felt a little anxious when we were outside of our community, outside our home,” Taylor recalls. “One thing the Library provided was another safe space. It was either home, school, church, or the Library, where I really felt completely safe, at home, seen, and appreciated.”

Despite being integrated on paper, both Dryades and Nora Navra would remain important institutions to Black communities for years to come.

It was during that time that twin brothers Ken and Kerry Sabathia started using Dryades Library.

“Even though technically segregation was over, we understood that, as African Americans, we were allowed to use one of two libraries –– Dryades in Central City, or [Nora Navra] in the 7th Ward,” Kerry said. “But, we were kids. We didn’t really think of it in terms of segregation. This was our library, and we loved it. We didn’t feel like it was any less of a library because there were no white people in it.”

Like Adams, the Sabathia twins’ also remember Dryades Library as a stately and regal place.

“We had our own Library cards, so we’d go by ourselves,” Ken recalled. “I can remember going into that old building and thinking it was very impressive. It had that grand double stairway leading up to the building and shiny wooden floors. We were probably between 8 and 10 years old, and I remember feeling like it was an important place, but also a very welcoming one.”

Adams’ father owned a pharmacy near the Broadmoor Library. After libraries desegregated, she recalls going to that location a few times, but said she never felt as welcome there.

“I remember the librarians telling me and my friends not to touch any of the books because we would leave black marks on them,” she said. “That’s the way it was. It might have been integrated, legally speaking, but it took many, many years for segregation to truly end. And that’s why having Dryades Library was a blessing. It was safe. It was for us.”

Dryades Library closed in 1965 after being damaged during Hurricane Betsy, shortly before the Sabathias started attending St. Augustine High School.

“We started using our school’s library around that time anyway, so Dryades Library closing didn’t have too much of an effect on us at the time,” Ken said. “But looking back, I do think it’s a shame that they didn’t fix it back up. It was a wonderful experience coming here and it’s something I’ll never forget. I would have loved to have been able to share that experience with my family.”

Adams moved away from New Orleans in the late 1960s, but returns as often as she can.

“When I go back to New Orleans there are certain places I always have to visit, just to keep my memories, and I always visit Dryades Street Library,” she said.

Returning 60 years later, Ken and Kerry fondly looked back on their time there and the long-lasting influence it had on their lives.

Both brothers trace much of their lives’ successes back to those early years spent at the Dryades Library, with its nurturing staff and their parents, who they said deeply valued education.

“It’s where we got our start, and it was a great resource for the community,” Ken said.

Ken’s love for the Library is so strong that he passed it on to his daughter — the New Orleans Public Library’s Early Literacy Librarian, Christine McCourtney.

“I’m very proud of her, she’s doing important work,” Ken said. “One day someone will be telling a story about how much she helped them to grow, just like I’m telling my story about Dryades now.”

In 2021, the building was approved to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, a designation the Sabathia brothers think it rightfully deserves.

“I saw an article about it in the ‘Preservation in Print’ magazine and I was really excited about it,” Ken said. “I showed it to my daughter and said ‘Christine, look at this! This is where your daddy and Uncle Kerry learned how to read!’ She knows how important it was to us, and I’m glad to know that the building will be around for years to come, even if it’s not a library anymore.”

The building later reopened as a YMCA and is still standing today, right where Adams and the Sabathia brothers left it –– near the corner of Philip Street and Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.

Nora Navra was one of a handful of Library locations seriously damaged during Hurricane Katrina and was closed after the storm. It was eventually demolished in 2017, rebuilt, and reopened on August 24, 2018 — just five days shy of Katina’s 13th anniversary.