The Louisiana Digital Library (LDL) offers access to thousands of digitized primary sources. This guide highlights some LDL holdings related to the Civil Rights Movement in Louisiana, including collections of photographs and print materials, as well as audio interviews with Civil Rights leaders.
To use this guide, please follow the links to browse and research collections. In some cases we have provided links to filtered results within a collection.
Baton Rouge Room Collection
The mission of the Baton Rouge Room Collection is to collect, manage, preserve and provide access to items that represent current and historical actions of local governments, businesses, residents and institutions of the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. These items include but are not limited to photographs, manuscripts, documents, periodical publications, audio and video recordings and memorabilia. For the purposes of this guide, the link directs to a search within this collection for “Civil Rights Movement.” Given the large quality of relevant items in this collection, users are advised to use the subjects listed to the left of the search page to narrow results further.
- Topics: Baton Rouge, La., Civil Rights Movement, East Baton Rouge Parish
The Long Civil Rights Movement: Photographs from the Ronnie Moore Papers, 1964 -1972
This collection from the Tulane University Digital Library consists primarily of photographs from the Ronnie Moore Papers housed at the Amistad Research Center. These photographs were collected by Moore in his roles with CORE and SEDFRE (Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality).
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, photographs, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Print Culture of the Civil Rights Movement
A collection of print media, such as broadsides, flyers, and pamphlets, that allowed civil rights leaders to circulate their own voices, apart from the controlling mass media narrative.
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, community organizing, print culture
Oral Histories
Leo Hamilton Oral History Interview, 1993
Audio and transcripts of interview with Leo Hamilton. Hamilton discusses his family, his segregated early education, his attendance at an integrated Robert E. Lee High School, race relations in Baton Rouge, the civil rights movement, activism among black students at LSU, the relationship between black students at LSU and Southern University, and his legal practice.
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Louisiana university students, segregation in education
Louisiana Civil Rights Movement Oral History Project
Audio and transcripts of interviews with people who discuss their involvement in the Civil Right Movement in and around Baton Rouge.
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, black communities, public schools
Maxine Crump Oral History Interview, 1992
Photographs and audio and transcripts of interview with Maxine Crump. She attended LSU starting in 1964 and was the first African American woman to live in a dormitory. Crump went on to be the first black female news anchor in Baton Rouge.
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, L.a.), community news
Natchitoches Cane River Civil Rights Oral Histories
The Natchitoches/Cane River Civil Rights Oral History Project features interviews with leading civil rights activists from the Natchitoches and Cane River areas.
- Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Natchitoches (L.A.), race relations
