Scholars at the University of South Carolina are establishing an archive documenting the history of the civil rights movement in South Carolina. The project, entitled “Lift Every Voice: Capturing and Teaching Civil Rights History Narrative,” is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The goal of the project is to is to locate the personal histories and artifacts of the era before they are lost or destroyed, archive the materials already collected, and create a permanent exhibition and an online database.
A national forum will be held at the University of South Carolina in May to bring together historians, archivists, librarians, and civil rights activists to discuss the challenges of collecting, archiving, presenting, and teaching civil rights history in the classrooms across the country.
Ken Volger, associate professor of education at the University of South Carolina, states, “This national forum will have a profound impact on the way archives and libraries influence the collection, presentation, instruction and preservation of the nation’s vanishing civil rights history.”
