In June 1968, the Aaron E. Norman Fund covered the travel costs for a delegation of seven civil rights leaders from the South to travel to Israel to study two models of cooperative agricultural communities: kibbutz, a collective farming community…
The National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing (NCDH, Norman grantee 1957–1969) was one of the leading advocacy organizations pressing for federal fair housing legislation throughout the 1960s. Founded in 1950 as an alliance of trade unions, churches, and civil rights…
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU, Norman grantee 1967–1995) was founded in 1920 to defend the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. When Charles Morgan Jr. — a white Birmingham lawyer who…
As Norman’s grantmaking approach matured, the Board of Directors discussed two distinct kinds of philanthropy: grants made by consensus on shared institutional priorities, and grants reflecting the personal interests of individual family members. To formalize this distinction, the Board decided…
The Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality (SEDFRE, Norman grantee 1963–1976) was created in 1963 as the fundraising and legal defense arm of CORE — the Congress of Racial Equality — with Norman family member Andrew E. Norman…
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):…
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 (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.…
In 1962, the Greater Citizens’ Council of New Orleans launched a cruel campaign designed to retaliate against the Freedom Rides and Northern activists. They recruited poor Black Southerners with false promises of jobs and housing, and put them on buses…