The Carnegie Corporation Decides on Racially-Segregated Libraries in South Africa in 1928: Negrophilist or Segregationist?

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of the Carnegie Corporation's decision in 1928 on the subsequent provision of library and information services (LIS) for non-whites up to 1939. In order to understand the decision to recommend racially-segregated LIS, the social milieu in South Africa, with particular reference to British colonial public and personal attitudes, will have to be explored. Certain trends in society in South Africa were clearly established by 1910 as the dominating influences in the separation of LIS on racial grounds. The influence which the Carnegie Corporation had on the situation, as an institution from the United States of America, will also be examined. The article outlines the causes of this attitude (fear of numbers, loss of identity, and economic swamping), which were to result in an 'us' and 'them' attitude, and therefore separate residential areas and separate education and library systems. The paper will examine the development of LIS for non-whites, specifically blacks, in terms of provision in the public, university, and school spheres, after the intervention of the Carnegie Corporation in 1928. To what extent did the Carnegie sponsorship influence the development of LIS for blacks? Should they have been more forceful in the determination of the policies governing library services, and did their actions lead to a neglect of LIS services for blacks?