50 North, 1651 Jefferson Parkway, Northfield MN 55057
Refused a library card at the public library, twenty-six-year-old African American lawyer Samuel W. Tucker organized a sit-in to protest the library’s whites-only
policy in 1939. He defended the protesters when they were arrested for disorderly conduct. Facing down Virginia’s “massive resistance” to school desegregation after the 1954 Brown v Board decision, he continued to fight unrelentingly for fairness, equality and justice. Author Nancy Noyes Silcox’s presentation includes details about the sit-in and Tucker’s career as a civil rights lawyer. She shares stories of her research journey that led her to unexpected connections and information.
Silcox wrote Tucker’s biography to help young readers understand that change requires the determination and courage of many ordinary people, not only the
ones who become famous.
Samuel Tucker books will be on sale after the presentation.
Growing up in New Ulm, Minnesota, Silcox now lives in Northfield.
As a Peace Corps voluneer in 1968, she served in Guyana, South America. She has been a school librarian in Alexandria, Virginia, Egypt, Belgium and
Ukraine.
Currently, she is working on A Place Called Home:The Story of German Immigrants from Cincinnati,Ohio to New Ulm, Minnesota 1856-1862. It’s a coming-of-age historical fiction about adjusting to change, experiencing tragedy during the US-Dakota War of 1862 and learning to survive and build a community in a new place.