Unsung Foot Soldiers   marchers
The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies
foot soldiers

Future Plans: Overview

The Foot Soldier Project’s goals include a forthcoming documentary focusing on Donald L. Hollowell, lead attorney in the landmark 1961 Holmes v. Danner case that desegregated the University of Georgia. Hollowell was a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement and his advocacy helped to advance the full scope of civil rights causes, including access to public education, public accommodations, voting rights, and the right of blacks to serve on juries.

Alongside the project’s primary focus of producing research via documentaries and books, other goals include the following:

  1. Conduct a systematic survey of records that document the civil rights experiences of Georgians.

  2. Select and digitize key primary source materials that illuminate the range of civil rights experiences and perspectives that form the scope of the Project. This material will extend the Project’s efforts to share materials with broad can be readily accessed by students and faculty around the world.

  3. Develop an interactive area of this web site aimed at helping K–12 students learn about the civil rights movement in Georgia initially and in the south at a later date.

  4. Apply lessons learned from the civil rights movement to understanding today’s ongoing struggle for social justice through educational initiatives and resources.

  5. Develop curriculum and instructional resources based on research and products of the FSP that present issues of cultural diversity, civil rights, and social justice for use by fields including but not limited to: education, social work, journalism and mass communication, African American Studies, history, political science, and speech communication.

  6. Research and publish intellectual and social histories.

  7. Collaborate in the development of thematic exhibits based on research and products of the FSP for installation in the galleries of the Russell Library and at selected venues.

  8. Develop film series, symposia, and teacher training workshops to help participants incorporate the project's materials into their curricula. Also, provide training in documentary filmmaking to university, high school, and community groups to strengthen the foundation of knowledge built by the partners in this project.

  9. Provide access to the over 75 hours of unedited video footage on prominent figures and unsung persons who played significant roles in Georgia’s civil rights history, obtained during research for the Ward documentaries, and make this material available to researchers, archives, teachers, students, and the general public.