The Richard A. Tucker Memorial Library opened in September 2021. It is the newest library location for the Norfolk Public Library system. The branch is named after Richard Allen Tucker, the former rector of the Cumberland Street School, the first school built by Norfolk Public Schools for African American students. In 1943, the Richard A. Tucker School was opened on the land where Richard A. Tucker Memorial Library sits. The school closed in 2011.
Richard Allen Tucker was born in Norfolk City, Virginia, in February 1850. He attended Howard University for training in Theology. In 1876, Norfolk Public Schools (NPS) hired Tucker as a school teacher, and in 1888, he became rector (principal) of the Cumberland Street School (renamed the S.C. Armstrong School), the first African American school built by NPS. The school was later renamed the Tucker School. He married Josephine Spooner in 1874, and their union produced twelve children.