The Lost Cause of Southern Libraries in the Jim Crow Era: This paper explores how the Lost Cause narrative of the Confederacy influenced the creation of racial segregation policies by libraries in the South during the Jim Crow era. Libraries are often idealized as forces of natural good, places that accept all people, regardless of their background. This has not always been the case, however, as many public libraries in the Southern states were complicit in enforcing racial segregation laws that saw them refusing service to Black people. The paper begins by discussing what the Jim Crow laws were and what the Lost Cause narrative is. It then transitions into a deeper dive into the current scholarship surrounding Jim Crow and libraries. The paper then details how the Lost Cause narrative influenced segregationist policies implemented by libraries through analyzing library funding, attitudes towards Black people who used libraries, and in-house policies designed to dissuade Black people from using the library.