New Website: Civil Rights Documentation Project

Posted by on May 26, 2006

The landmark civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s has attracted considerable scholarly attention, deservedly so. Much of the analysis of this legislation has centered on the social and cultural conditions that gave birth to such laws as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As valuable as the emphasis on the civil rights movement has been, an equally vital chapter has been neglected — the story of the legislative process itself. The Dirksen Congressional Center has posted a new feature on “CongressLink” that provides a fuller accounting of law-making based on the unique archival resources housed at The Center, including the collection of then-Senate Minority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-IL), widely credited with securing the passage of the bills.

The Civil Rights Documentation Project [http://www.congresslink.org/civilrights/index.htm]

Intended to serve the needs of teachers and students, The Civil Rights Documentation Project demonstrates that Congress is capable of converting big ideas into powerful law, that citizen engagement is essential to that process, and that the public policies produced forty years ago continue to influence our lives.

The project takes the form of an interactive, Web-based presentation with links to digitized historical materials and other Internet-based resources about civil rights legislation created by museums, historical societies, and government agencies. We hope to provide resources teachers can use to create lesson plans and materials to supplement their teaching of the legislative process, of recent American history, and of the civil rights movement, among other social studies topics.

Take a look and please contact Cindy Koeppel at ckoeppel@dirksencenter.org if you have any ideas or comments about this new feature. We always value your feedback.

Did you know that in 1964 Everett McKinley Dirksen helped secure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Take a look at some other highlights in Dirksen’s life: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_chron.htm.

Cindy Koeppel
The Dirksen Congressional Center
2815 Broadway
Pekin, IL 61554
Phone: (309) 347-7113
Fax: (309) 347-6432