Voting Rights Research Repository Project

What is the Voting Rights Research Repository Project (VRRRP)?

The Voter’s Portal is a Project of the VRRRP. Created by the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture at Alabama State University (Civil Rights Center), the VRRRP is charged with acquiring, preserving, and providing access to voting rights related information and materials. These resources are used to promote civic engagement and the expansion of American Democracy through public programming and the web-based voting-related information.

In an effort to highlight the story of voting rights, the VRRRP emphasizes the collection of related oral histories, artifacts, and manuscripts. These resources are deposited in the Alabama State University Archives at the Levi Watkins Learning Center, and they are made available to researchers and laypersons interested in various aspects of voting rights in the United States.

The Mission of the Voting Rights Research Repository Project

The Project’s mission, like that of the Civil Rights Center, is to disseminate information about the struggle to extend full voting rights to all American citizens, and to examine and understand forces intended to limit access to the franchise. For both the general public, academicians, and students, the VRRRP is positioned to shed light on how the struggle over voting rights has evolved in the United States of America over time.

What is the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture at Alabama State University (Civil Rights Center)?

The Civil Rights Center serves as a clearinghouse for information and materials related to the civil rights movement in the United States, with a particular focus on the state of Alabama, the city of Montgomery, and Alabama State University. In addition to providing scholars for lectures, presentations and tours, the Center sponsors several programs, including symposia, conferences, film festivals, a lecture series, and an Institute for Research and Cultural Enrichment. Moreover, there are several projects operated by the Civil Rights Center, including two house museums, the First Baptist Parsonage and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy home, and the Nat King Cole birth home. The Civil Rights Center also operates a 1960 bus, a museum/art gallery, and is responsible for the placement of several monuments and historic markers in Montgomery, Alabama. On the ASU campus the Civil Rights Center works with the National Park Service to operate the Montgomery Interpretive Center (MIC), a part of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.