Today in History–August 28–the Library of Congress features the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on this day in 1963. Around a quarter million people participated in this non-violent demonstration for civil rights seeking, among other things, equal access to public accommodations, decent housing, adequate and integrated education, the right to vote, and…
The Civil Rights History Project collection is a direct result of the 2009 Civil Rights History Project Act. This law mandated the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to conduct a survey of existing civil rights oral-history collections and enhance these collections by recording new interviews with…
Today in History–March 7–the Library of Congress features the first civil rights march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery, which was led on this day in 1965. Unfortunately, the marchers, which numbered about 600, had scarcely left Selma when they were were brutally assaulted by heavily armed state troopers and deputies. The ugly incident…