Category 1970s Voting Rights and Voter Engagement

Latino voter registration and a landmark expansion of the Voting Rights Act transform political power in the Southwest.

The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP, Norman grantee 1975–1978, 1984–1985) was founded in 1974 in San Antonio, Texas under the motto Su Voto Es Su Voz: Your Vote Is Your Voice. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 largely bypassed…

SEDFRE helps a new generation of Black elected officials govern in a South that had spent a century keeping them out of power.

The Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality (SEDFRE, Norman grantee 1966–1976) was founded in 1963 to provide legal defense, scholarships, and voter registration support to the Civil Rights Movement. By the early 1970s, the movement’s hard-won legislative victories…