Caver Cultural Center

At the turn of the century, when the public library system was segregated, the Colored Library Association was organized by eastside civic leaders to provide library services for the east side African-American Community. In 1929 new facilities were constructed with a $75,000 appropriation from a city bond issue. Mayor C.C. Chambers dedicated the building as the Colored Library Auditorium at its opening in April 1930. The building was renamed the Carver library Auditorium, in honor of George Washington Carver, in 1938. Until the late 1950s, the center was a focal point for educational, cultural, political, social activities for San Antonio's African-American community. Nationally acclaimed artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Charlie 'Bird' Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Cab Calloway, and Billy Eckstein performed at the Center. The African-American community, prevented from joining San Antonio's mainstream social, cultural, and educatio