Neil Reichline Oral History

An August 2015 story about Neil Reichline's 1960s activism, published in the Los Angeles Daily News, may be accessed here: Tarzana man helped Southern blacks register to vote ahead of landmark Voting Rights Act – Daily News. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Neil Reichline's civil rights activism was inspired by a speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the University of California, Los Angeles on April 27, 1965, that was attended by more than 4,500 students and faculty members. More information and an audio recording of the full fifty-five minute speech may be found here on the UCLA Anderson School of Management website: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 UCLA Speech | UCLA Anderson School of Management. - Stephen Fagin, Curator  

The Summer Community Organizing and Political Education (SCOPE) project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was an ambitious undertaking in the summer of 1965 in preparation of passage of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965. Hundreds of predominantly white college students were recruited to travel to six southern states to coordinate with community groups, promote voter registration, and document voter suppression. An extensive digitized collection of primary source materials, including orientation brochures, reading lists and press materials may be found here via the Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement Archive: Civil Rights Movement -- SCLC/SCOPE Project. The Sixth Floor Museum has been honored to record oral histories with a number of activists who took part in the 1965 SCOPE project. - Stephen Fagin, Curator