Bertha Edwards

Edwards was born on June 8, 1920 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She graduated in 1942 from Hampton Institute where she majored in social studies and library science.{{Cite news |last=McCall |first=Nathan J. |date=27 April 1979 |title=Black libraries had rough beginning |pages=14 |website=Spartan Echo |url=https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SPTE19790427&dliv=userclipping&cliparea=1.14,331,374,4260,5416&factor=9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Bertha+Edwards%22------- |access-date=2023-12-09 |archive-date=}} After graduation she worked first at the Naval Supply Depot and then was a kindergarten teacher at the Zion Baptist Church from 1944 until 1945.

Edwards was hired by the City of Portsmouth to serve as librarian at the 900 square foot brick building beginning in 1945.{{Cite news |last=Rodgers |first=Lee F. |date=1945-07-19 |title=Colored library on South Street to open soon |pages=18 |work=The Portsmouth Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-portsmouth-star-colored-library-on-s/136545084/ |access-date=2023-12-09}} She formed the library into a community resource, successfully making the case to city officials that because Black people made up one third of the Portsmouth population at the time, her library should receive one third of the funding supplied to the Whites-only library.{{Cite web |last=LaPierre |first=Suzanne |date=2022-02-08 |title=Bertha Winborne Edwards: An Icon of Library Black History - Public Libraries Online |url=https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2022/02/bertha-winborne-edwards-an-icon-of-library-black-history/ |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=Public Libraries Online - A Publication of the Public Library Association |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2020 |title=Remarkable Portsmouth: Episode 1, Bertha Winborne Edwards |work=PCTV Channel 48}} Although the Portsmouth Public Library had a Whites-only policy prior to 1960, the Colored Community Library welcomed people of all races. The White librarian at Portsmouth Public Library collaborated with Edwards while the two libraries were segregated, sometimes ordering duplicate copies of reference books and giving one to Edwards for the “Colored” library. As an exchange, Edwards shared her collection of Portsmouth Black history documents. As of 2013, this scrapbook is considered an endangered artifact.{{Cite web |last=Stevens |first=Connie |date=2013-09-17 |title=Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts |url=https://www.wvtf.org/arts-culture/2013-09-17/virginias-top-10-endangered-artifacts |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=WVTF |language=en}}

In 1960 a judge ordered the Whites-only Portsmouth Public Library to desegregate. In 1963, the library moved into larger quarters in a remodeled post office with an integrated staff and library board. Edwards became part of the staff at the integrated library.{{Cite news |date=1963-03-09 |title=2 join staff at new library |pages=5 |work=The Virginian-Pilot |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-virginian-pilot-2-join-staff-at-new/136547163/ |access-date=2023-12-09}} In 1960 the state of Virginia began to require licenses for librarians, and retroactively conferred them on staff currently serving as library directors except for Edwards, apparently due to her race.{{Cite book |last=Mildred and Dean Burgess Holladay |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofportsmo0000mild |title=HISTORY OF PORTSMOUTH VIRGINIA |date=2007 |publisher=Portsmouth Historical Commission |isbn=978-0-9792491-0-5 |pages=330–331}}

Edwards was also a historian and archivist, and collected documentation of Black history and Black community members of Portsmouth.{{Cite news |last=Rollings |first=Virginia H. |date=1991-02-09 |title=Black records in Portsmouth underused |pages=34 |work=Daily Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-press-black-records-in-portsmouth/136547375/ |access-date=2023-12-09}} She wrote several books including books on the history of blacks in Portsmouth, Virginia, photos of blacks in the area, and a history of black baseball in Portsmouth.{{Cite web |title=Bertha Edwards Obituary (2009) - Norfolk, VA - The Virginian-Pilot |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/pilotonline/name/bertha-edwards-obituary?id=28482278 |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=Legacy.com}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=December 2023}}

In 1997, Edwards received the "Excellence in Librarianship Award".{{Cite news |date=9 Apr 1997 |title=She'll be honored ... She organized Portsmouth's 1st black library |pages=1:2 |work=New Journal & Guide ; Norfolk, Va. |via=Proquest}} In 2015, the American Library Association dedicated the Portsmouth Community Library and Edwards as a literary landmark.{{Cite web |last=SHAYNASIMPSON |date=2017-05-11 |title=Literary Landmark: Portsmouth Community Library - Bertha Winborne Edwards |url=https://www.ala.org/united/products_services/literarylandmarks/landmarksbyyear/2015/edwards |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=United for Libraries |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-12-27 |title=Portsmouth’s Colored Community Museum Library now a literary landmark |url=https://www.pilotonline.com/2015/12/27/portsmouths-colored-community-museum-library-now-a-literary-landmark-2/ |access-date=2023-12-09 |website=The Virginian-Pilot |language=en-US}}

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• {{YouTube|id=ZSbnFEU7LIs|title=Remarkable Portsmouth Episode 1 Bertha Winborne Edwards Documentary Must Watch! Portsmouth Virginia}}

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Category:1920 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:Librarians from Virginia

Category:20th-century American women librarians

Category:20th-century American librarians

Category:Hampton University alumni

Category:People from Virginia