CENSORSHIP AND INTOLERANCE
Brown became the Bartlesville librarian in 1919. She stayed for thirty years until she was fired for her civil rights activities, including reading to African-American children from Doulas School on Saturdays and eating at a segregated drugstore lunch counter with two Douglas teachers. Brown was accused of having subversive materials on the library shelves, even though they had been there for years. Brown was dismissed but the Oklahoma Supreme Court later overturned the decision. But Brown was unrepentant and left town soon after. The saga of Ruth Brown would not die quietly. There was a Bette Davis movie, magazine articles, newspaper columns and an award-winning book. In 2007 the Bartlesville Library unveiled a bust in her honor.
