Voter Education Project facts for kids
The Voter Education Project (VEP) was a special program that helped people in the southern United States learn about voting and register to vote. It ran from 1962 to 1992. The VEP collected money from different groups and gave it to civil rights organizations.
The Kennedy administration supported the VEP. They hoped that civil rights groups would focus more on helping people register to vote instead of holding big protests.
Why the VEP Started
In the early 1960s, many students started protests like sit-ins and Freedom Rides. These actions were part of the Civil Rights Movement. They brought a lot of attention to the problems of racism in America.
At the same time, countries in Asia and Africa were becoming independent from old colonial rule. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were competing for the support of these new nations during the Cold War. News stories, photos, and TV images of racism and police actions against Black civil rights activists made the U.S. look bad. This made it harder for the State Department to convince new nations to support the Free World.
How the VEP Was Formed
President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy believed that student protests caused the negative news about race in America. They asked civil rights leaders to focus on voter registration instead of protests.
They also quietly convinced several non-profit groups to give money for voter registration work in the South. The Taconic, Field, New World, and Stern Family foundations agreed to help. To manage this money, groups like the NAACP, Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee created the VEP. It was part of the Southern Regional Council.
What the VEP Did
After the Albany Movement, the VEP helped almost 500 people register to vote in Albany, Georgia, in just two weeks. In its early days, the VEP faced some challenges. For example, the SCLC almost got suspended in 1963 because of problems with their funding reports.
However, by the end of 1964, the VEP had given out about $900,000 to civil rights groups. This money helped register almost 800,000 new Black Southern voters. After the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, VEP-funded efforts helped register another 175,000 new Black voters.
The VEP continued to fund voter registration, education, and research in the South until 1992. Important leaders like Randolph Blackwell, Vernon Jordan, John Lewis, and Ed Brown served as its directors.
Impact of the VEP
The VEP greatly helped register voters, especially in rural areas. However, it did not stop the violence that people faced when trying to vote in the South. The Kennedy administration had hoped it would reduce these problems.
In the Deep South, white resistance to Black voting rights was even more violent than their opposition to integrating public places. News stories showed more police actions, brutality, bombings, and murders. White political leaders, the Ku Klux Klan, and White Citizen Councils used arrests, fear, and economic threats to stop Black people from voting.
See also
- New York Foundation
