Electronic resources: Joint project of the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution now online

The American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) have launched The Civil Rights History Project at www.loc.gov/folklife/civilrights/. The portal presents the results of a nationwide inventory of oral-history interviews with participants in the civil rights movement. The research, which was initiated and completed in 2010, identified several hundred collections held in libraries, museums, archives, universities, historical societies, and other institutions across the nation. The database and search tool, developed by Library of Congress catalogers and web designers, will enable researchers to efficiently query the survey results and locate collections in repositories around the country.

The survey results represent the successful completion of the first phase of the Civil Rights History Project. The second phase of the project, directed by the NMAAHC, consists of new interviews with participants, focusing on their experiences that have not previously been recorded. In addition, project researchers will collect objects such as original photographs, home movies, event flyers, diaries, training-session notes, minutes from planning meetings, and even shoes and clothing worn during historic marches, mass rallies and freedom rides. Once processed and catalogued, the new materials will be made accessible to researchers at the Library, NMAAHC and online through the project website.

The Civil Rights History Project was created by an act of Congress in 2009, sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), and signed into law by President Barack Obama (Public Law 111-19).

"The fight for civil rights was one of the most significant social and cultural movements in our nation’s history, and this project will help future generations understand the struggle to make the dream of equality and freedom a reality for all Americans," said McCarthy in proposing the legislation. "While we know so much about the lives of the leaders of the civil rights movement, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Congressman John Lewis, and Thurgood Marshall, it is important that we learn about the everyday people of all races who took a stand during a pivotal time in our nation’s history. There were so many people who were crucial to the civil rights movement, but have not had as much recorded about their experiences for the public record."