Birmingham Public Library Honors Civil Rights Chief Shelly Millender Jr.

Shelly Millender III and his wife and children are holding a proclamation issued to him Tuesday by the BPL Board of Trustees in honor of his late father, Shelly Millender Jr, to the desegregation of public libraries.

Birmingham Public Library, WBHM

The Birmingham Public Library Board of Trustees honored Shelly Millender Jr., who helped integrate the city’s libraries in 1963 and died last month. The board of directors tabled a resolution for Millender’s family at their meeting this week.

Millender was one of three Miles College students who helped integrate Birmingham’s public libraries. Millender helped direct a sit-in at the downtown library that, surprisingly, saw no resistance from the students. Millender, who was also an Army veteran, spoke about this experience with WBHM in 2018.

“If I could risk my life for the country, I certainly shouldn’t be denied the library,” Millender said.

Shelly Millender in a library in Birmingham in 1963.

Millender worked as a salesman for decades, starting with the Coca Cola Bottling Company. He became one of the first black sellers of luxury vehicles and after his retirement he started his own radio show called “Let’s Talk”. He was also a lifelong member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

Here is part of the resolution honoring Millender’s legacy:

* While Shelly Millender Jr. walked into the downtown Birmingham Public Library on April 10, 1963 and faced a librarian who said, “No, I want to use this library” refused to leave …

* While the directors of the Birmingham Public Library, because of his actions, agreed to end the segregation shortly thereafter in what has been described as one of the few peaceful segregation efforts in Birmingham….

* While Shelly Millender Jr. and his brave deeds were featured in library historian Wayne S. Wiegand’s book, The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South: Civil Rights and Local Activism, and a panel discussion about the event at Central. attended library on May 1, 2018.

Millender died on July 17th. He was 86 years old.