The Story Behind a Local Librarian’s Highly Anticipated Documentary
“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 his documentary.
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 history of Black librarianship. That certainly caught my attention. It’s not every day you hear about local librarians making it onto national news programs. Naturally, I wanted to learn more, but I also had a lot of research to do. So, we decided that I would come back later to talk to him and his colleague, Community Engagement Librarian/Archivist Adreonna Bennett, who has also been working on the documentary.
And, well, that’s exactly what I did. Of course, I went home and watched the Good Morning America interview first to learn more about the project. In addition to highlighting Freeman and many of the voices that contribute to the documentary, it also shares some enlightening historical facts and statistics—including that African Americans only make up 7% of librarians in America as of 2021. The interview portion of the video closes with a quote from Freeman: “The library is open for everyone., and that is truly what it means to be a Black librarian. We want to represent everyone.”
As the video ended, I immediately wanted to know more—not about the documentary itself, though I cannot wait to watch it when it premieres in 2025, but more about him. I wanted to know more about his impetus for creating this documentary in the first place. I wanted to know his why.
Now, I’ve already shared the moment when he came up with the initial idea at the ALA Annual Conference, but how he got there is a story all its own.
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