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Category: African Americans

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Q & A with Journalist Vern Smith on the Voices of Civil Rights Project Collection

Posted by: Kate Stewart

Two weeks ago, Beth Domingo of AARP’s Life Reimagined Institute and journalist Vern Smith came to the American Folklife Center to talk with us about their work on the Voices of Civil Rights project (AFC 2005/015), sponsored by AARP and donated to the Library of Congress in 2005, and to hear about our recent work …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Symposium Spotlights Interracial and Interfaith Coalitions

Posted by: Kate Stewart

On September 25th, the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress’s Hispanic Division brought together eight scholars and activists for a day-long symposium titled Organizing Across the Boundaries: Strategies and Coalitions in the Struggle for Civil Rights and Social Justice. It was the last event for this fiscal year in our public programs series, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Exhibit Now Open

Posted by: Kate Stewart

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom opened at the Library of Congress on September 10th. This exhibit draws from collections across the library to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the act. It covers America’s long history of discrimination and segregation, the grassroots movement for civil rights, and the efforts of …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Researcher Spotlight: Jeannette Estruth

Posted by: Kate Stewart

The following is a Q & A with one of our long-term researchers, Jeannette Estruth. KS: Hi Jeannette! Tell us a little about your background and why you came to the Library of Congress and the American Folklife Center. JE: Hi Kate, thanks so much for inviting me to take part in the American Folklife …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Photographs of the Southern Freedom Movement in the Alan Lomax Collection

Posted by: Kate Stewart

Ever since the Civil Rights History Project Act was passed in 2009, archivists at the American Folklife Center have kept their eyes and ears open for items related to the Southern Freedom Movement as they process collections. Todd Harvey, curator of the Alan Lomax Collection (AFC 2004/004), recently noticed a folder of twenty-one photographs in …