[5] He challenged the 1902 legislation that created the Louisville Free Public Library system, on the basis that it did not adequately serve African Americans, and persuaded the city council to open a branch to fill this need.

[6] It marked a new level of civic engagement by "the emerging, turn-of-the-century, southern black middle class" which was determined to "build positive community infrastructures for purposes of racial uplift.

"[4] Several prominent African-American librarians worked in the Western Branch and assisted in education and outreach programs for the local black community.

The library also held an annual spelling bee with Cup winners and cash rewards sponsored by Joseph S. Cotter Sr., a local black educator.

The prominent Douglass Debate Club for high school boys, which argued civil rights topics, studied and cooperated with this branch.

[4] By 1935 this had expanded to eighty classroom collections as well as library services administered at two junior high schools and the development of 15 deposit stations.