[2] His mother completed teacher-training school and taught for one year before marrying Josey's father, a WWI veteran who worked as a laborer at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.

[16][17] With support from his minister, Reverend Leon Sullivan, Josey successfully advocated to be transferred to a position that could make use of his master's degree in history as part of the social science section.

[20] A major initiative was the "Library Culture Program" which featured authors such as Langston Hughes, Kay Boyle, and Elizabeth Vroman.

[23] In 1959, Josey was invited to return to Savannah State College by the president to oversee the building of a new library facility, and he served as chief librarian and associate professor there until 1996.

[25] Josey was the faculty advisor for the debate team and Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, and supported students' founding of a local chapter of the NAACP.

While in these roles, Josey implemented the New York State interlibrary loan system, providing access to 72,000 libraries around the world.

The book collects twenty-five autobiographical essays, including pioneers such as Virginia Lacy Jones, Augusta Baker, Binnie Tate Wilkin, A. P. Marshall, Miles Jackson, and Robert Wedgeworth.

The book addressed "the widespread existence of racism in the profession and incorporated stories of segregation, bias, discrimination, and ignorance about black librarianship.

Active in community affairs, he also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Albany County Opportunity, Inc., the local anti-poverty agency for four years.

I was seething with anger, for I remembered that three civil rights workers-Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner had been murdered and lay dead and buried somewhere in Mississippi, their bodies not yet discovered.

[47] Josey was first elected to the ALA Council, the policy making body of the Association in 1970 and served until the summer of 2000, a period of 29 years.

In his inaugural address on June 27, 1984, Josey articulated his presidential vision: The public good, in an even broader sense of the general welfare, is closely related to progress for libraries.

[49] Another highlight of his presidency was the joint meeting of BCALA and the Kenya Library Association for a weeklong seminar[49] Josey was also a member of the Association for Library and Information Science Education and in 1990 presented a report at the Board of Directors meeting on behalf of a committee he led at the request of president Miles J. Jackson "to explore the state of affairs in ethnic, multicultural, and humanistic concerns in LIS.

[51] In the spring of 1987, he was elected to a 4-year term on the board of directors of the Freedom to Read Foundation and again chaired the ALA International Relations Committee from 1987 to 1990.

In May and June, 1987, Professor Josey lectured in three African countries, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia under the auspices of the United States Information Agency.

The four remaining segregated chapters that denied membership to African-American librarians at that time were Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi; and they integrated immediately.

[55] and in 1986 received the NAACP President's Award from the Albany Board for "significant contributions to special populations in New York State".

[56] Josey was one of the founders of the Equal Opportunity Authority in Savannah, Georgia, and contributed his leadership in the development of the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.

[53] His fervent advocacy was a major factor in eradicating racial discrimination from many library facilities and services, and from a number of professional associations.

This scholarship is awarded annually to an enrolled African-American graduate student in the Department of Library & Information Science who demonstrates potential for academic excellence and leadership in the profession.

[2] The author of more than 400 articles in library, educational, and history journals, Josey also authored or edited thirteen books in the fields of education, history, and library science,[31] which include: Josey served as Editor of: Notable articles and book chapters with historical acclaim include: