Ella Gaines Yates

Who was Ella Gaines Yates?

Ella Gaines Yates is recognized in the library world as being the first African-American director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System in Georgia.

Ella Gaines Yates was born into a well known and wealthy family in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. Ella Gaines Yates was accepted to Spelman on July 13, 1944. She wrote in her admission letter to the college “I wish to come to Spelman, because I feel there is no other college anywhere in the world finer for a girl to receive training to prepare her for higher gain in life. I have always looked forward to entering Spelman College, because Spelman students have a certain air about them that denotes character and culture. I would naturally fall in line.” Ella graduated from Spelman in 1949. She not only walked away from Spelman with her degree she met her husband, Clayton Yates, at Morehouse College. Yates received her bachelors degree from Spelman College. She then received an MLS degree from Atlanta University in 1951, and went on to be a prominent member of African-American librarianship. She was hired as the assistant branch librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library from 1951 to 1955.