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. Kennedy, SRC launched the Voter Education Project — a coordinated, foundation-backed effort to register Black voters across the South — by funding CORE, SNCC, the NAACP, the Urban League, and SCLC. Norman was among the funders of VEP, which registered 287,000 new voters between 1962 and 1964 and produced research on voter suppression that directly shaped the provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Beyond voting, Norman’s grants to SRC also supported the Rural Advancement Project that documented conditions among Black farmworkers and helped develop cooperative land ownership models in the rural South. 

Media:

• SNCC Digital Gateway: Voter Education Project Launches