The Story Behind a Local Librarian’s Highly Anticipated Documentary
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Published on April 09, 2024
By Kayla Chadwick-Schultz
Introduction
“Are you a librarian?” It’s a seemingly innocent question, probably asked by someone who just wants to know more about your profession, right? Well, not for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Digital Production Librarian and Archivist Rodney Freeman. In his experience, that question is not one of innocent curiosity; it’s a microaggression built on the assumption that Black people cannot be librarians. This assumption is not true, of course. There are many Black librarians across the country. However, the history of Black librarians and their fight for the right to literacy and access to information for all Black Americans has never really been told before. Their stories have not been shared. Freeman realized this during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, when he was talking with a group of Black male librarians who had all expressed similar experiences within the profession. He asked himself, “Who’s going to document their story?” That singular moment of wonder gave birth to a passion project that Freeman would spend the next couple of years pursuing—a documentary entitled Are You a Librarian: The Untold Story of Black Librarians.
First Step: Getting the Word Out
Freeman on Good Morning America to promote the documentary (via YouTube). I first met Freeman during my time in UNC Charlotte’ Public History program. I spent a lot of time Atkins Library, particularly in the Dalton Reading Room on the 10th floor. This is where you’re allowed to view the library’s Special Collections & University Archives. It’s also where I ended up seeing Freeman again while conducting research for my article on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic presence in Charlotte. He was the librarian/archivist on staff in the Dalton Reading Room that day, and he had recognized me from our previous encounters. As we were catching up, he mentioned having recently been featured on Good Morning America for his new project about …
The Librarianship Journey of Rodney Freeman
Rodney Freeman posing in the Dalton Reading Room at UNC Charlotte (via UNCC). “I did not want to go into librarianship,” Freeman revealed when I asked about how he got where he is today. “Like, it was my last choice. It wasn’t even a thought, really.” Freeman had recently finished his master’s in public administration and moved back home to Kankakee, Illinois. He had his sights set on law school, but he knew that he had to make some money in the meantime. He juggled studying for the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) with “applying for jobs left and right,” as he put it. It wasn’t until one fateful day, when he went to study at the Kankakee Public Library, that everything fell into place.