Wednesday, June 11, 2008

New Civil Rights History Digital Archive

The University of Georgia has launched the Civil Rights Digital Library. Here's the description:
The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film from the WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries. The CRDL provides educator resources and contextual materials, including Freedom on Film, relating instructive stories and discussion questions from the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, and the New Georgia Encyclopedia, delivering engaging online articles and multimedia.

Resources easily found on the site include the full text of interviews conducted for the Eyes on the Prize documentaries, including, for example, interviews with Constance Baker Motley and Burke Marshall. This is an excellent site and will be valuable for both teaching and research. Hat tip.