Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis’ first library for Black residents reopens through school librarian’s leadership
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Maurice Broaddus was a writer by trade and became a middle school librarian by accident.
The award-winning Afrofuturist and sci-fi author once filled in at The Oaks Academy middle school, where he was also a teacher, for the librarian going on maternity leave. The librarian never came back.
“Six, seven years later I’m still covering her maternity leave,” he joked.
But what started as mere chance has become an opportunity to mentor young writers, support artists of color, and restore a historic Indianapolis library that was the first in the city established specifically for Black residents.
“It’s been a lesson in collaboration, a lesson in building relationships, a lesson in dreaming alongside our neighbors,” said Broaddus, who is Black. “Ultimately, what does it look like to restore a space and then it be true to its purpose?”
Broaddus led the project to reopen the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, established within the now-closed John Hope School No. 26 in 1922, to students at The Oaks Academy Middle School, a private Christian school in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. The library originally existed to serve Black residents in a de facto segregated part of the city. Its restoration after nearly 30 years of disuse will give Oaks students their own library collection, Broaddus said, while memorializing its place in Indianapolis history.
“We are honoring the past, but we’re doing present work,” he said.
The restored library opened last week on the first day of school at The Oaks. Many shelves are still empty — Broaddus is waiting on a major 1,000-book order — but he’s started curating three special collections on the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and Afrofuturism.
As parents and new students walked through the building for middle school orientation last Tuesday, they lingered around the library. They saw shelves of rich, dark wood, an ornamental copper ceiling, and a working fireplace.
“It looks like a Harry Potter film in here, you know?” one parent said to her child.
“As well it should,” Broaddus said.
The team behind the project worked to pay homage to the original decor and accents of the space, he said. The library stopped operating in 1997, when John Hope School No. 26 of Indianapolis Public Schools shut down.
The Oaks Academy acquired the building in 2015, according to the school website, and currently has around 270 students in grades 6-8.
Before this year, students relied on the Indianapolis Public Library shared interlibrary system and requested books online that were delivered by Broaddus. They can continue to use that system, but now they also have an internal collection to browse.
In addition to aesthetics, Broaddus wants to honor the legacy of the space by ensuring it benefits the community, not just private school students. He said that’s why he established the Mari Evans Residency for Artists and Authors of Color.
The residency, named for the acclaimed Black poet, writer, and Indianapolis resident Mari Evans, will bring in a renowned author for two weeks to meet with students as well as hold a public-facing event, like a lecture.
The public event is important to Broaddus, who cares about earning the neighborhood’s trust. He said some of the themes of the residency grew out of community feedback.
“If I’m over here operating like, ‘Oh, I know what we should do,’ I’m operating no differently than, frankly, any of the white institutions, just with a Black face in front of it,” he said. “I’m literally no more than a colonizer with brown skin at that point.”
During orientation, the students were intrigued with how the restored library space will be used.
Eighth-grader Lazarus Manley said he likes the idea of going to the library after a long day.
“It just feels really cozy to be in, and I’m really excited to use it,” Manley said.
Haley Miller is a summer reporting intern covering education in the Indianapolis area. Contact Haley at hmiller@chalkbeat.org.
Indianapolis, IN
Conor Daly, Alex Palou become 1st drivers to top 228 mph on 2nd day of Indianapolis 500 practice
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis 500 drivers turned Wednesday’s practice into a possible race day preview.
They ran in packs, created long, snaking lines through the two long straightaways and mostly avoided trouble over the frantic final 75 minutes on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval.
Conor Daly and Alex Palou took advantage of the cool, overcast conditions to post the fastest laps on the second practice day. Daly posted the best lap of the day at 228.080 mph with Palou just a fraction slower at 228.026. They were the only drivers to top 228, while Palou had the fastest trap speed of the day at 237.220.
“We have, we think, found some speed in other areas,” said Jack Harvey, Daly’s teammate with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “So, generally, they’re just all excited to try and I think, I mean I think we were good the last month of May, but I think we can be a lot better this year.”
Harvey has been fast all month, though he finished 14th on Wednesday at 225.100.
The weather created ideal conditions for speed and the drivers didn’t disappoint.
Daly, the stepson of speedway president Doug Boles, seems to be making the most of his first and possibly only IndyCar start of the season. He was one of five drivers to top 225 on Tuesday, then backed that up with an even better performance Wednesday.
David Malukas was the strongest of Team Penske’s drivers, finishing third at 227.139, just behind Palou, the Spaniard who has won four series crowns and is the defending 500 champ. Graham Rahal and France’s Romain Grosjean rounded out the top five.
Though most of the 33 drivers stayed on the track as long as they could over the final 75 minutes, crew members for three previous race winners — Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi — were also busy trying to fix problems.
Hunter-Reay, of Arrow McLaren, had a radio issue. Castroneves, of Meyer Shank Racing, had an issue with the car’s balance, while Rossi’s Ed Carpenter Racing crew worked on the engine.
Drivers return to the track Thursday then will receive a turbocharge boost Friday before making four-lap qualification runs on Saturday and Sunday. The race is scheduled for May 24.
It hasn’t just been busy on the track.
One day after series officials announced their second rule change of the month, race organizers announced all reserved seats have been sold for the second straight year and the third time since 2016. That also means fans in central Indiana will be able to watch the telecast live.
And NASCAR team BRANDed Management announced it would give 45-year-old British driver Katherine Legge a chance to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. If Legge qualifies for both races, she’ll become the first woman to attempt racing’s “double” — 1,100 miles of racing in one day — a half century after Janet Guthrie arrived at the Brickyard with the hope of qualifying for the 33-car starting grid. When that didn’t happen, Guthrie wound up starting NASCAR’s World 600, which is now known as the Coca-Cola 600.
Indianapolis, IN
Katherine Legge Will Attempt to Make History With Indianapolis 500, NASCAR Double in Same Day
Katherine Legge will look to make motorsports history this month by competing in IndyCar and NASCAR Cup Series races on the same day.
According to ESPN, Legge’s BRANDed Management announced Wednesday that she intends to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on May 24, which is a feat known in racing as “the double.”
The double has been attempted 10 times by five different drivers, but Legge would be the first woman to do so if she pulls it off.
Speaking to USA Today‘s Mitchell Northam regarding her ambitious plan, Legge said, “It’s another groundbreaking thing that I can showcase to the world really that, if you set your mind to things, you can do anything, and you can do things that maybe you never even dreamt of before.”
Legge, who is a 45-year-old motorsports veteran from England, has competed in the Indy 500 four times, and she has run in eight NASCAR Cup Series races over the past two seasons.
Her best Indy 500 finish to date was 22nd in 2012, while her best result in a NASCAR Cup Series race was 17th last season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson was the most recent driver to run the double, doing so last season. He previously attempted it in 2024, but a rain delay during the Indy 500 caused him to miss the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Larson have all run the double, but the only driver to ever complete every lap of both races in the same day was Stewart in 2001.
No driver running the double has ever won a race as part of it. Stewart’s finishes of sixth in the Indy 500 and third in the Coca-Cola 600 in 2001 are the best results in the double to date.
Regardless of where she finishes, Legge will etch her name in motorsports history forever if she is merely able to qualify for and compete in both the 2026 Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600.
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