| Title | Date Created | Description | Subject | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Discrimination Hearing Set", "Dekalb Awaiting Justice Review of Vote Legislation", May 24, 1984 | 1984-05-24 | "Discrimination Hearing Set", "DeKalb awaiting justice review of vote legislation", and " A Sumter County non-solution". 3 pages. | African Americans--Politics and government, Race discrimination, Dispute Resolution | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| VEP Press Release, May 15, 1984 | 1984-05-15 | Press release from the Voter Education Project regarding a study of the May 8 presidential primary in North Carolina, which found that the Black vote was crucial to Jesse Jackson's strong showing, and it also provided the critical edge Walter Mondale needed to beat Gary Hart in the overall voting. Hart came in first by a very slim margin among white voters, but Mondale received 13.5% of the Black vote, which was fifteen times greater than the 0.9% of the Black vote that went to Hart. Jackson received 84.2% of the Black vote, with the remaining 1.4% going to other candidates or uncommitted. The Black vote was also crucial because the crossover vote by Blacks was almost twice as great as the crossover vote by whites. 15.6% of the Blacks voting cast their ballots for a white candidate, whereas only 8.6% of the whites voted for the Black candidate. 2 pages. | Political participation, African Americans--Civil rights, Voter registration, African Americans--Politics and government, Demographic surveys | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Registration Drive Preceded Jackson's", May 6, 1984 | 1984-05-06 | Black-voter registration and turnout has increased dramatically in the past year, with some of the highest increases occurring in the South, and while Rev. Jesse L. Jackson's presidential candidacy is often credited with this phenomenon, analysts argue that the Reagan Administration's policies, particularly its effort to weaken the Voting Rights Act, played a significant role in spurring voter registration drives and increasing Black voter turnout. 1 page. | Voter registration, Voting, Political participation, African Americans--Politics and government | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Jackson's Loading of Bandwagon Buoys Hopes of Black Candidates", April 25, 1984 | 1984-04-25 | Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in the 1980s has led to a revival of Black political interest in the South, with high Black voter registration and turnout inspiring many Blacks to run for office in unusually high numbers and giving them hope that the power of the vote will be recognized in local races for city councils, county commissions, sheriff, mayoral and congressional seats. 1 page. | Political campaigns, Voter registration, Political participation, African Americans--Politics and government | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "New Black Voters Outnumber Whites Nearly 2 to 1", April 18, 1984 | 1984-04-18 | Black voter registration has increased almost 2-to-1 compared to White voter registration in the past 18 months in North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, potentially giving state Rep. Kenneth B. Spaulding, a Black candidate, an advantage in his bid to defeat the White incumbent, I.T. "Tim" Valentine, for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming primary election, where Black voters are expected to turn out in large numbers, spurred by Jesse L. Jackson's presidential candidacy. 1 page. | Voter registration, Voting, Political participation, African Americans--Politics and government | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "New Anti-Discrimination Law Passes in Atlanta", February 1984 | 1984-02 | The Atlanta City Council adopts legislation, prompted by the ACLU, to end racial and gender discrimination in several Atlanta gay bars, requiring establishments selling alcohol to make a good faith effort to ascertain legal drinking age and to post a notice at the point of entry reading, "You may be requested to show no more than one currently valid picture of identification with name and date affixed as issued by any agency of government". 1 page. | African Americans--Civil rights, Race discrimination, African Americans--Georgia--Atlanta, Sexual minorities | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Increase and Impact: Black Participation in Southern Politics, 1984", Summer 1984 | 1984 | "Increase and Impact: Black participation in Southern politics, 1984", and "Project votes reaches the poor". 8 pages. | African Americans--Politics and government, Political participation, Voting | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| Reagan Comic Strip, 1984 | 1984 | Doonesbury comic pointing out how Ronald Reagan running for president spurred may Blacks to register to vote. 1 page. | Voter registration, Political campaigns | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "She Has to Bone Up as New Head of Leighton", 1984 | 1984 | Renita Jimmar, a 23-year-old supervisor for American Telephone and Telegraph, became Leighton's first Black mayor-elect after winning the July 10 election with 230 votes, defeating the incumbent Eugene Boatwright, and plans to work on improving the town's recreational facilities for young people and obtaining federal funds for housing, water, and sewer improvements. 1 page. | African American mayors, African Americans--Social conditions, Voting, African Americans--Civil rights | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Anderson Says VEP Lawsuit Has Little Support in Pulaski", December 21, 1983 | 1983-12-21 | Article on how the Voter Education Project plans to file a lawsuit against Pulaski County seeking to abolish the one-member county commission in 24 Georgia counties, arguing that they are unconstitutional and discriminate against minorities. 2 pages. | African Americans--Politics and government, African Americans--Civil rights, Race discrimination, Political participation | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Arrington Fills Staff Post on Women's Issues", December 20, 1983 | 1983-12-20 | Article on how Birmingham city officials are taking steps to address women's issues by appointing a new staff member with special responsibilities for women's issues and forming a new women's commission to review concerns relating to women, including family violence problems. 1 page. | African American women, African Americans--Politics and government, African American families | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "One Man County Boards Targeted for Lawsuit", December 8, 1983 | 1983--12-08 | The Atlanta-based Voter Education Project, led by Charles McCant, plans to challenge a county in federal court by January 14, 1984 in their effort to dismantle "one man governing boards" in Georgia that they deem undemocratic and Nazi-like, with a determination based on the Black voting age population in the targeted county and a focus on examining the racial composition of county boards of education during their tour of five counties from December 12-16. 1 page. | African Americans--Georgia--Atlanta, Political participation, African Americans--Politics and government, African American civil rights workers, Race discrimination | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Macon Mayor Adds Liberal Touch to Reagan Campaign in Georgia", December 4, 1983 | 1983-12-04 | Article on Macon Mayor George Israel, and how his coalition building methods has made him popular in both Democratic and Republican Parties. 2 pages. | African Americans--Politics and government, African American civic leaders, Political participation | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| VEP Press Release, December 1, 1983 | 1983--12-01 | The Republican incumbent George Israel won the mayoral general election in Macon, Georgia with 44.1% of the city's Black vote, while only 45% of registered voters participated in the election, and White voters overwhelmingly supported Israel. 1 page. | Voter registration, Voting, African Americans--Civil rights, Political participation | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| VEP Press Release, November 28, 1983 | 1983-11-28 | Press release from the Voter Education Project regarding analysis of the Mississippi gubernatorial election, which confirmed that Black voters provided the margin of victory for Democrat Bill Allain. Allain received 46% of the white vote, but 84% of the Black vote. Voter turnout was 48%, with 49% of white registrants and 47% of Black registrants voting. The remaining three candidates in the election received only tiny percentages of the vote. 2 pages. | Political participation, African Americans--Civil rights, Voter registration, African Americans--Politics and government, Demographic surveys | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| VEP Press Release, November 23, 1983 | 1983--11-23 | The Voter Education Project is hosting a Contemporary Conference on Voting Rights Issues at Virginia Union College, which aims to increase Black voter registration and participation, examine the obstacles to achieving equal Black representation, and discuss strategies for elevating registration and increasing the level of sophistication and staying power of Black registered voters in the state of Virginia and the South. 4 pages. | African American civil rights workers, Voter registration, Voting, African Americans--Civil rights, Political participation | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Students Answer Jackson's Plea by Registering", November 17, 1983 | 1983-11-17 | Jesse Jackson urged Black students at Albany State College to join his "Rainbow Coalition" and register to vote in the 1984 presidential election, and also spoke to a convention of Black Baptists about the need for economic common ground and the restoration of moral tone in America, while expanding the Democratic Party and criticizing Congress for its refusal to pass a new Equal Rights Amendment and the recent deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in Europe and occupation of Grenada. 1 page. | Groups and organizations, African Americans--Civil rights, Political campaigns, Political participation, Voter registration | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "VEP Report Shows 88 Southern Black Majority Counties: But Political Progress Stalled", November 15, 1983 | 1983--11-15 | A report by the Voter Education Project reveals that 88 counties across the southern United States have Black majority populations, and 65 of those have Black majorities of voting age, yet only 26% of elected officials are Black, which is attributed to persisting barriers to Black voter registration and participation. 2 pages. | African Americans--Georgia--Atlanta, Political participation, African Americans--Politics and government | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| VEP Press Release, November 15, 1983 | 1983-11-15 | Press release from the Voter Education Project regarding a report that found that there were 88 counties in the South where Blacks had a majority of the voting age population. However, Blacks only held 26% of the elected offices in these counties. The report attributed this to barriers in Black voter registration and participation, such as inaccessible registration sites, inconvenient hours for registration, and economic threats. The Voter Education Project also announced plans to register 500,000 blacks by the Fall of 1984 in order to increase Black representation in these counties. 2 pages. | Political participation, African Americans--Civil rights, Voter registration, African Americans--Politics and government, Demographic surveys | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
| "Georgians Not Big on Voting", November 11, 1983 | 1983-11-11 | A recent Census Bureau report revealed that Southerners, particularly Georgians, had lower voter turnout compared to other regions in the United States during the previous year's general election, with only 38.6 percent of Georgia's voting age population reporting that they voted, the fourth lowest turnout among all states and the District of Columbia. 1 page. | Voter registration, Political participation, Voting, Demographic surveys | Voter Education Project Organizational Records |
Sep 4, 2020
Voter Education Project Organizational Records
The Voter Education Project (VEP) began in 1962 as part of the Southern Regional Council. Initially VEP granted funds to civil rights organizations to support voter education, voter registration drives, and voting-related research. In 1964, Vernon Jordan, the second executive director of the VEP, expanded the programs goals to include citizenship training, voter education, and leadership training in the southern United States, while continuing to provide funds to independent voter and civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the League of Women Voters. The VEP’s work with the League of Women Voters is highlighted in the materials below. In 1971, VEP under the leadership of John Lewis, became an independent organization and functioned as a research center and became known as an authoritative source for statistics on southern elections and voter registration in general. Lewis also forged the VEP into an activist organization, launching Voter Mobilization Tours with Georgia state legislator and civil rights advocate Julian Bond.
At the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library we are always striving to improve our digital collections. We welcome additional information about people, places, or events depicted in any of the works in this collection. To submit information, please contact us at DSD@auctr.edu.
