The Second Voter Education Project, 1965–1969

This chapter chronicles the VEP’s impact on black southerners and politics after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Under the leadership of Vernon Jordan, the VEP went beyond voter registration and started programs to educate African Americans about the political process. The VEP also started hosting conferences designed to swell the number of black candidates running for various political offices across the South. During this period, not only did the VEP increase the number of black southern voters, it also grew black political power in a variety of ways at local and state levels across the American South.