April 23, 2009
Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009 Passed by House of Representatives
The counter from the Greensboro sit-in, a non-violent protest during the African American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s at the National Museum of American History. (Courtesy of Mark Pellegrini/Wikimedia Commons.)
“A fundamental principle of American democracy is that individuals should stand up for their rights and beliefs and fight for justice.” ~ Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives unanimously agreed to fund a 5-year initiative to record oral and video histories of those who lived during the African American Civil Rights movement between 1954 and 1968.
“While the Civil Rights movement had many visible leaders, including Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, there were many others whose impact and experience were just as important to the cause but who are not as well known,” reads the Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009.
Now a half a century later, there is a need to collect these personal histories before these voices are lost. The bill specifies that the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History and Culture work together to carry out the act. The bill has yet to be approved by the Senate or signed into law by President Obama.
The Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009 is sponsored by Representatives Carolyn McCarthy of New York, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, and John Lewis, also of Georgia.
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This is fantastic. It is very important to have these thoughts, memories, and experiences recorded so we can look back on them when these people have passed on.
This is great news. I was active in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s and worked on the national staff of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. I’ve given four oral histories and interviews over the past year or so, and would jump at the opportunity to have my experiences memorialized by the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress.
Some of the events, such as the March on Washington, had details that have escaped public notice at the time they were happening. Oral histories may be the only way to recover information that would otherwise be lost.