African-American Research Library and Cultural Center
The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is a library located at 2650 Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States. A branch of the Broward County Library, it opened on October 26, 2002. The library building The facility has a 300-seat auditorium, 5,000-square-foot art gallery, and Small Business Resource Center. Since its opening, the center has hosted more than 38 major exhibits and served more than 895,000 customers. It is the sixth-largest library in the Broward County Library System and the third of its kind in the nation. History Samuel F. Morrison, while director of the Broward County Libraries Division, was inspired to build an ethnically-focused library after a visit to the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History. At that time, the Auburn Avenue Research Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City were the only two research libraries in African-American culture in the nation. Morrison, however, was determined to "build a library in the African-American area, with county funds." Funding Between 1990 and 1995, Morrison engaged in numerous conversations and negotiations with county officials on the construction of the library. Funds had already been saved to