A library or a jail? How Black women pushed for education over incarceration in Forest Hill

Nearly 40 years ago, Jerline Harvey, affectionately known as the godmother of Forest Hill by her friends, had a big goal: to get her small city just south of Fort Worth a public library.

Harvey accomplished that — not once, but twice.

It would take many years and lots of work. Harvey recruited other Black women in Forest Hill, including Charlotte Hogan-Price, to help.

“The journey to get a library has been a task that was not easy, especially in the beginning. The founder of the library, who is Ms. Jerline Harvey, has been the full force behind this library,” Hogan-Price said.

Back then, Forest Hill residents could visit the Fort Worth Library but they were unable to check out books, because they lived outside the city limits. The predominantly Black community today has about 13,000 residents.

In 1987, the first Forest Hill Public Library opened in a mall. Ineze Slaughter, an immigrant from the Caribbean island of Dominica, remembers taking her children to reading competitions hosted by the library in the summer. Every year, her children would win a prize, Slaughter said.

“(Harvey) used to give out trophies.” Slaughter said, “She used to tap me on my back and say, Mrs. Slaughter, you did such a good job.”

In 1994, the city manager closed the library.

“All of our books, our furniture, everything was given away,” Hogan-Price said.

But Harvey didn’t give up.

“She said, ‘Charlotte, we’ve got to get a library in this city,’” Hogan-Price said.

The money needed for the library came from adding an extra half-cent to the sales tax in Forest Hill. Some residents wanted the money to be used for another jail or for additional resources at the police department. The measure to get a library passed by 14 votes.

The current Forest Hill Public Library at 6962 Forest Hill Drive broke ground in 2007. Ada Newsome-Sami was there with a shovel to help. According to her and others who worked on it, the library was built on the backs of Black women.

“It was the women who went out and collected signatures. It was the women who, when we had temporary quarters, ... had to catalog and collect all the books,” Newsome-Sami said.

The library officially opened in 2008. Today the sign on the outside of the one-story stone building bears Harvey’s name, and inside hangs a portrait of her on the wall. Harvey died in 2017.

Slaughter still visits the library almost every day, but now she brings her granddaughter.

“Coming from a third-world country, I remember we had a mobile library and the children would just run to it. This community doesn’t know what they have. It is of paramount importance to the city,” Slaughter said.