Once Ruth Brown began openly supporting racial equality in Bartlesville, city leaders wasted no time plotting to fire her from her job at the town’s public library.

For one thing, the city commission replaced the library board (which included several Brown supporters) with members who opposed her activities.

Likewise, these new board members argued that some of the library’s materials were promoting a pro-communist (and, therefore, anti-American) agenda.

One issue of the city newspaper featured a photo of a stack of allegedly communistic journals with two books on top, one of which had the wor...