Sojourner Room, Oxon Hill Branch Library

The Oxon Hill Library opened in 1967 on the site of the former Sojourner Truth Elementary School. It included a special collection named for Sojourner Truth, an advocate for Black emancipation and women’s rights. The Sojourner Truth Room began as a reference collection of literature by and about African Americans and now includes digital materials documenting the African American incorporated towns of Prince George’s County.

A year before the Oxon Hill Library opened, the library began a campaign to collect materials about Sojourner Truth’s life and work. Staff published solicitations in Quaker journals where she had once worked with abolitionists, hoping to locate original documents. The effort paid off: the Prince George’s Memorial Library received a special award from the American Library Association for the materials it acquired. These items included first editions of The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Northern Slave and The Book of Life. Together, they formed the foundation of a special reference collection on African American history, accomplishments, and challenges. The room’s focus on African American literature grew out of its location and past. The elementary school that once stood here (on the site of the library) began as a Freedmen’s Bureau school and later became a Rosenwald School. Although the case Brown v. Board of Education ended school segregation in 1954, integration in Prince George’s County was challenged and contested. Under federal rules that allowed school closures to push desegregation, the county decided in June 1965 to close Sojourner Truth Elementary. As the library occupies the school’s former location, the room directly reflects the county’s history of challenges with education and civil rights. The collection has grown to 10,000 non-circulating books, which include rare editions, journals, classic and newer works, about African American history, culture, and achievements. However, the room centers on formally published books. The histories of Black communities and towns in Prince George’s County aren’t represented in the collection, as these stories are primarily found in local histories, informal, community-created works. To maintain the room's intended focus, the histories of Prince George’s County’s Black towns were shared on a dedicated website (microsite), which was considered a more appropriate format. The Sojourner Truth Room microsite centers on African American historic and incorporated towns in the county. The site highlights the establishment, geography, and transformation of the historic town of North Brentwood, the town of Glenarden, the resort community of Eagle Harbor, and the Fairmont suburb. This website places these historic Black communities within the broader history of urban planning and suburban growth in Prince George’s. However, the emphasis on technical planning can overshadow the cultural and social histories of these communities. The Sojourner Truth Room collection is a key resource and repository for African American history in Prince George’s County. Combining the physical collection with the website may support further research on Black communities in the county and provide a more complete view of the region’s history.

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