Ernest's Gift

On the occasion of the centennial of the public library in historic Selma, Alabama, beloved storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham relates the true story of Ernest Dawson. When he was a boy in the 1930s, segregation laws had barred Dawson from using the Selma library. But his love of books and his eagerness to learn was strong, and he eventually became a teacher. Years later he bequeathed to the Selma library money for a new children’s wing so that other eager young readers of all races would always have a welcome place in Selma to find magic through books.