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African-American History
40th
Anniversary Of The Civil Rights Acts
For the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act passed in July of 1964, AARP, the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and the Library of Congress will be collecting and archiving the largest collection
of first hand civil rights accounts ever compiled.
The "Voices of Civil Rights Bus Tour" will travel across the country collecting a series of extraordinary stories from ordinary people. The first leg of the bus trip will stop in many of the cities that were part of the route of the 1961 Freedom Riders. Because of extreme opposition and violence, the Freedom Riders did not reach their final destinations in Louisiana. On Tuesday, August
24, 2004, the Voices of Civil Rights Bus Tour will stop in New Orleans as part of its 35-city, 70-day tour to collect thousands of unrecorded memories of the civil rights era as well as stories about the ongoing quest for freedom and justice.
This unique initiative kicked off on the National Mall on August
3, 2004 and will run through mid-October 2004. These compelling firsthand historical narratives will be recorded for the first time in most instances, by a group of "Freedom Writers" -journalists several of whom broke the color barriers of the '60s and '70's. Individuals from across the United States and from all walks of life will share memories of their struggles through the civil rights era as well as present day struggles for justice and equality culminating in a rich, historical collection of memories to be housed at the Library of Congress.
To see stories collected so far, visit www.voicesofcivilrights.org.
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