Category 1960s Voting Rights and Voter Engagement

Three interconnected legal organizations take civil rights battles into the courts of the Deep South.

As the movement grew, so did the volume of legal work required to protect demonstrators, challenge discriminatory laws, and press for enforcement of federal protections. Norman supported three interconnected legal organizations: NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (Norman grantee 1958–1986):…

The Selma Literacy Project takes on Alabama’s discriminatory literacy tests, laying groundwork for the 1965 voting rights marches.

In 1963, Dallas County, Alabama — where Selma is the county seat — had 15,000 Black residents of voting age, and fewer than 300 registered Black voters. Working with SNCC and the Northern Student Movement, the US National Student Association…

The Southern Regional Council launches the Voter Education Project, registering hundreds of thousands of Black voters across the South.

The Southern Regional Council (SRC, Norman grantee 1951–1978, 1983, 1987, 1994) was one of the few interracial institutions operating across the South engaging communities on issues of race and democracy. In 1962, at the urging of Attorney General Robert F.…