1950 Interesting People WILLIE LEE BUFFINGTON

From THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE
October 1950

As Willie Lee Buffington, now a professor of sociology at Paine College, Augusta, Ga., and founder of a unique chain of libraries, was growing up on a worn-out South Carolina farm, about all he had was a goal and a friend.  His goal was an education and his friend was Eury W. Simpkins, a Negro schoolteacher who encouraged Willie, the white boy, and even helped him financially out of his tiny salary.

Well, Willie got his book learning and never forgot his friend.  When "Uncle Eury" got a new school building some years ago, he found himself without books. Willie decided to help.  He had one thin time and a lot of faith. He bought five 2-cent stamps - this was in 1932 - and wrote to 5 ministers chosen at random, asking each to send him one book.  Four never answered, but the fifth sent Willie 1,000 books, and "Uncle Eury" loaded his shelves. There was an overflow and, at a community meeting, neighbors in Saluda, S.C., volunteered to build a small library called Faith Cabin Library.  That was the beginning, and since then 61 rural communities in South Carolina and Alabama have built libraries for Negros, and Willie has stacked each one with at least 2,00 books.  The people of these communities, sparked by Willie, have contributed to build the libraries of logs, shingles, or brick.  They have financed them by selling lumber or home-grown vegetables, by missionary donations, Board of Education grants, raffle sales, and individual contributions. Every day Willie receives hundreds of volumes from church groups, civic organizations, colleges, women's clubs, and individuals. He feels knowledge is the answer to one of the most pressing of the South's problems.  He wants to see a library near every Negro school in the Deep South.

Willie got his own education the hard way, working his way through school as a mill and farm hand.  He now has a Master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.  He is shown here presenting a fresh crop of children's books to Mrs. Mamie Sapp Dye, librarian at Elberton, Ga., while youngsters watch with interest.

*******NOTE********
If anyone in the Elberton, GA area can find a relative of Mamie Sapp Dye (if they still live in the area) OR a relative of Willie Lee Buffington...I would love to get the actual page from the magazine to them.  I think it would even look nice in a library in the area as I'm sure some of the children in the picture might be recognized.  This is such a great piece of history!