Alabama Library Association
The Alabama Library Association (ALLA) is a professional organization for Alabama's librarians and library workers. It is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded on November 21, 1904, in Montgomery. Thomas Owen, director of the Alabama Department of Archives, was the association's first President from 1904 through 1920.

Before the 1960s, ALLA was only open to White members. ALLA members attempted to allow Black membership between 1949 and 1953. ALLA executive council unanimously supported the idea, and created a Biracial Committee with ten Black librarians and six White ALA members. During this time of study, several Black librarians paid dues to join ALLA which were refunded when ALLA could not offer them "full membership privileges." The Biracial Committee was disbanded after three years when they could not come to an agreement on how to integrate the association and also work within the state segregation laws of the time.

ALLA lost their ALA State Chapter status when they refused to admit Black members. ALLA council passed a motion stating "it is the intent and will of this Executive Council... (just as soon as local, municipal, and state ordinances permit) to give full consideration to the acceptance of qualified librarians, of whatever race, to membership in this association." The association withdrew from chapter status since it could not comply with chapter requirements" After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation, ALLA council passed an official resolution barring screening of membership applications based on race on December 4, 1964. ALLA held its first desegregated meeting in the Spring of 1965.

The organization maintains an Alabama Authors database.
Q173
Alabama
Concept
Q182436
librarians
Concept
Q29364
Montgomery, Alabama
LOC
Q29364
Montgomery
LOC
Q17100045
Thomas Owen
PER
Q585962
Civil Rights Act of 1964
EVE
Q57399046
Alabama Library Association
UNK
1904-11-21T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
November 21, 1904
DATE
1904-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1904
DATE
1920-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1920
DATE
1960-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1960
DATE
1949-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1949
DATE
1953-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1953
DATE
1964-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1964
DATE
1964-12-04T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 4, 1964
DATE
1965-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1965
DATE
headquarters location
headquarters location