The digital gateway that is the, “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee”, is an archival and documentary based website that offers viewers a look back into time The concept for an archival web platform came from a collaboration between Duke University and the SNCC Legacy Project; the hope being to continuously educate about voter registration and trying to empower black youth to strive for a more polished democracy. The goal of this project is to empower and encourage young black voters to take information from the past, and use those tools to their advantage to strive for a better future. The initial movement / group was founded in 1960, but the idea of archiving the information came about in 2013, which is when Duke and SNCC started collaborating. The first pilot website was published in 2015, and has continued to have information added since then.
Some of the information that can be found on the website are profiles examining individuals who helped the movement, historic materials such as photographs, oral history interviews, audiovisual material, articles from activists themselves, events that trace the history of organizing, and a map that connects viewers to the people / places where events took place. The digital gateway wanted to bring the history of the younger generation becoming involved with the Civil Rights movement to life, in a way that could be preserved forever. They wanted to digitize materials, so that the intended audience of the current younger generation could have access to these resources. However, I believe that the information offered on this website could be beneficial to anyone who views it, whether that be the younger or older generation. While I do not believe there is any monetary compensation for those who make this platform carry on, I do think that the ability of people to share their stories, while empowering the youth, is payment in and of itself.
Adrienne Newcomb