Betty Jean Johnson is a voracious

reader who loves traveling to faraway places through books.

Her teacher Prevell Barber stoked an

appreciation for the written word. “I always had to read something in her class

or around her. The fact of it is when I read, I travel. We didn’t have TV until

later.” Johnson thought her college education would lead to a career in social

work.

Instead, a high school class in

“library procedures” changed her trajectory after graduating from Gibbs Junior

College in St. Petersburg. Back then, Manatee Community College, now known as

State College of Florida was off limits to African Americans. Mary Emma Jones,

a well-respected entrepreneur and community leader orchestrated the hiring of

Mary Thomas at the Sarasota Public Library.

Thomas helped Johnson land a job

there. The facility was not a welcoming place for African American patrons.

Johnson understood what Newtown residents encountered. “For a book report, I

had to go to that library for a book because we didn’t have it at the Booker

library. There were ‘closed stacks’ closed to Blacks. The lady at the desk had

to go to the stacks to get the book. When I started working there, those same

people were there.” For years, a perplexing question dogged Johnson. “What can

I do to get more Blacks to use the library?” A solution to the conundrum came

while preparing to work a split shift. She would ask the boss for use of an old

book mobile the library was about to replace. Instead, administrators provided

an outreach van that made books accessible to African American children.

From a van to a storefront library

operating on a shoestring budget, Johnson and supporters kept pushing, even

though for years their efforts seemed fruitless. Finally, the North Sarasota

Public Library opened as a result of the seed of an idea that Johnson planted.

The facility is named after her.