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”…
Continue reading: Author Talk at 50 North, Northfield, MN June 21, 2024Category: Books
New America is a liberal think tank that focuses on public policy issues. They are developing online curriculum to help students learn about Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Alexandria Library sit-in. As a part of their work, they interviewed several people connected with this story. Here is the link…
Continue reading: Nancy Noyes Silcox Interview about Samuel W. TuckerPeople with information about the Alexandria Library Sit-in that Samuel W. Tucker organized in 1939 and Tucker’s legacy were interviewed by New America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Tucker was included in the 2023 Virginia Standards of Learning (learning objectives) as one of the famous Virginians students will study. In…
Continue reading: Samuel W. Tucker Curriculum MaterialsTelling Samuel Wilbert Tucker’s story in the Alexandria, VA church his family attended and where he played the piano, was especially meaningful for me. I was thrilled to be invited and pleased so many people, including neighbors, wanted to know more about Tucker and his work to desegregate public libraries…
Continue reading: Tucker Talk at Zion Baptist Church, Feb. 12, 2023Follow the story of the fictional Beck family as they move from Cincinnati, Ohio to the new western frontier town of New Ulm, Minnesota in 1857. As they learn to live in a new place that the indigenous Dakota also call home, they experience the challenges of building a house,…
Continue reading: A Place Called Home: German Immigrant in Minnesota 1856-1862Growing up in New Ulm, Minnesota, I didn’t learn much about the war on the prairie in 1862. New Ulm was one of the places attacked by Dakota warriors. That’s really the only fact I knew. When a chance comment got my curiosity activated, I began searching for sources…
Continue reading: US-Dakota War of 1862The Story of a Civil Rights Trailblazer and the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In. The earliest known sit-in for civil rights occurred at the Alexandria (Virginia) Public Library on August 21, 1939. In Samuel Wilbert Tucker, Nancy Silcox charts the story of a young African American lawyer who grew up in Alexandria…
Continue reading: Author Talk at Arlington Central Library, Feb 26th, 7pmOn a rainy night, a lively crowd heard about the 1939 Alexandria Library sit-in and Samuel Wilbert Tucker’s work to challenge discrimination and school segregation through the courts.
Continue reading: Alexandria Public Library Author Talk, Dec 9, 2019The Alexandria Gazette highlights the Alexandria Library’s 80th anniversary event that recognized the family of youngest sit-in protester, William “Buddy” Evans. The family helped the library create READ posters that will hang in all the branches to remind us that 80 years ago the young protesters courageously challenged a system that…
Continue reading: 80th Anniversary of 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-inMeeting with Tarrant’s 7th graders April 22nd to close their research unit on change makers. They read the biography I wrote about Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-in and researched other people who have made a difference in their communities. During my presentation we’ll explore these questions: Who are…
Continue reading: Tarrant Middle School (Hampton, VA) Change Makers