The Hidden History of the Voter Education Project

By Courtney Suciu

“What I discovered shocked me,” Evan Faulkenbury recently wrote in a case study about using ProQuest History Vault to research his book民意测验：选民教育项目和美国南方选票运动.

“As a historian, I have always been fascinated by the inner-workings of organizations,” he explained. “And by following the civil rights movement’s money trail, I came across the Voter Education Project (VEP).”

SUNY Cortland的历史助理教授Faulkenbury称，VEP是鲜为人知的“集体的民权领导人集体，目的是在投票箱中与吉姆·克劳作战”。该组织知之甚少的原因是“其领导人故意将自己的工作保持在阴影中。”

“They did so,” Faulkenbury wrote, to stay “out of the crosshairs of conservatives who felt threatened by African American political power”

“The VEP remained discreet during its entire existence,” he added, “but it played a vital role within the civil rights movement.”

如果VEP的历史如此晦涩，那么福肯伯里如何知道它在运动中扮演着什么样的角色？因为使用Proquest历史保险库，他能够发现“震惊”他的发现。

“I found a hidden history of the civil rights movement – the clandestine role of the VEP in funding, bolstering, and empowering thousands of grassroots Black activists across the American South during the 1960s,” he wrote.

“Without ProQuest History Vault, I never would have discovered this link in the chain of events,” Faulkenbury wrote. “Without these sources, my book would’ve still been published, but it would’ve also lacked key information.

“I hope future historians will continue to discover sources through the ProQuest History Vault that will enrich their scholarship.”

Learn more about:

• The Voter Education Project (VEP)
• The history of the civil rights movement
• 投票权利行动主义
• Using ProQuest History Vault in research
• The value of primary source content

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Courtney Suciu is ProQuest’s lead blog writer. Her loves include libraries, literacy and researching extraordinary stories related to the arts and humanities. She has a Master’s Degree in English literature and a background in teaching, journalism and marketing. Follow her @QuirkySuciu