The Chicago Public Library’s (CPL) Bessie Coleman branch, located on East 63rd Street, is named after the first Black woman to fly a plane. Opened in 1993, the branch is slated to close and be replaced by a new branch that will service the Woodlawn, Hyde Park, and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The new branch’s location and the timeline of the replacement have not yet been determined, but all Coleman staff are currently planning to move to the new branch when it opens.
“This initiative came out last year, where CPL is getting three additional branches, separate from the Obama Presidential Library,” Nesha Saunders, CPL’s District 6 chief, said. District 6 includes the Coleman branch and 15 other libraries. “[Coleman branch] is a super special and cute branch, but I think we can always strive for better technology and more space.”
Valerie Carter, branch manager at Coleman, spoke with The Maroon about the replacement.
“My understanding is that we will function in the way we’re functioning now, we just would be in a newer building. Now, I don’t know if that’ll change at some point,” Carter said. “That all depends on what the City of Chicago and what the [CPL] administration… want that to look like.”
Carter and Saunders said that part of the reason why the Coleman branch is being replaced by a new branch was to create more space and capacity to serve visitors, as the current Coleman branch was getting a high amount of traffic. Some of this traffic comes from UChicago-related organizations. For example, the Coleman branch partnered with the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago last year to run a coding program for children. The branch’s chess club also frequently plays against members of the UChicago Chess Club.
“We’re very customer-oriented here, so this is a busy branch,” Carter said. “We like to be busy, and we like that people choose us because it lets us know that we’re doing a good job.”
According to Carter, the branch holds meetings with the ward’s alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, serves migrants in the community, services nearby daycares with its reading events for children, and holds movie screenings each week.
“We have good relationships and good rapport with the other community buildings and facilities that are in the area,” Carter said. “We serve a lot of different people, and we want to continue with that.”
One group that often uses Coleman’s community rooms is Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP). According to its website, the organization aims to “build the power of low- income and working Black residents” in Chicago’s south side. The Maroon spoke to Savannah Brown, a housing organizer with STOP.
“I see it as a community space, people kind of get to make it what they want and get what they want from it,” Brown said of the Coleman branch.
STOP has held town halls, meetings, and other events at Coleman. “We’ve had education around what’s happening in the neighborhood, from giving updates around the Obama Presidential Center to having workshops around ‘how do we build power,’ workshops around capitalism, and workshops on socialism,” Brown said.
Brown expressed that she was not sure why the Coleman branch was being replaced, and tied the new branch to broader changes in Woodlawn.
“Oftentimes [the City] goes off their own visions, versus consulting the community and what’s needed,” Brown said. “I am at a loss for words—I have no idea, it doesn’t make sense to me.”
In recent years, the City of Chicago has increased investment and development in the neighborhood, including through the currently under-construction Obama Presidential Center. The Center has sparked concerns among residents about gentrification and housing affordability.
The Obama Presidential Center is slated to have a CPL branch as well, but according to Carter, it would not become the area’s main library.
“We still would be the anchor library in the community,” Carter said of Coleman and the new branch that would replace it. “The Obama Center… is not where people would go and check out their library materials.”
Another group that often uses the Coleman branch’s community spaces is the chess club at the branch.
Leslie Muhammad, a longtime chess player at Coleman, said the Coleman branch was a community place where chess players were welcomed and could gather to play.
“I originally established a relationship with the general manager Ms. Carter,” Muhammad said in an interview with The Maroon. “It’s just something we established and cultivated. There’s a lot of children that come in here to do their homework… some of them have come in and observed us as well.”
Muhammad expressed that the chess club would continue to play at the new branch. “Definitely, wherever they move, we will go with them and probably set up something similar to what we have here,” he said.
Carter said her first priority as the branch moves to a new location is to have a designated space for senior visitors of the library.
“I’d like to have a room, just for seniors only, and I would invite guests in to speak to them about resources in the community,” Carter said. “I’m hoping we get a space where that can happen.”
Saunders said she thought the changes to come with the new branch would help bring in more visitors to the library.
“I absolutely love the Coleman branch, but I can’t wait to see it get all the upgrades,” Saunders said. “We want to continue to provide access, and make sure everybody has all the opportunities that they can get in utilizing the library.”
