About Us

Recollection: A Civil Rights Legal Archive celebrates the history of civil rights in the United States by sharing powerful stories and historical documents from the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) Archives.  

Founded by Thurgood Marshall on March 20, 1940, LDF has played a pivotal role in advancing education equity, voting rights, criminal justice, and economic justice for people of color.  

The searchable archival collection on Recollection: A Civil Rights Legal Archive consists of oral histories, legal briefs, press releases, and correspondence related to more than 6,000 cases LDF has litigated since its founding. As one of the country’s oldest and foremost civil rights legal organizations, LDF is uniquely positioned to preserve and share the inner thinking of legendary thought-leaders and legal minds. Our collection also highlights the challenges and bravery of Black communities across the 20th and 21st centuries. We hope these primary source materials inform the current efforts of litigators, advocates, and activists to advance civil rights.  

Recollection: A Civil Rights Legal Archive’s editorial content, including an interactive timeline, essays, and biographies, offers the public an engaging way to interact with our shared history. Teachers, students, and scholars can learn about key, and often forgotten, people and cases that helped progress America toward a multiracial democracy. Now more than ever, it is critical that we all have access to reliable information about our nation’s fight for equality and justice. 

Explore Our Archives
Meet Civil Rights Leaders Through Oral HistoriesDiscover Landmark Cases

History of Recollection: A Civil Rights Legal Archive

LDF established the Archives Department within the Thurgood Marshall Institute in 2016. The following year, the department received an Archival Needs Assessment. Generous support from additional funders enabled LDF to continue building out a sustainable archives program. In 2021, the Archives Department received a one-year planning grant. Thanks to a major grant from 2022 through 2024, LDF expanded the Archives team’s capacity, digitized hundreds of boxes of archival records, created a collection of oral history interviews, and developed a privilege review process. 

Project Team 

LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute Archives Department: Kimberly Villafuerte Barzola, Donna Gloeckner, Andrea Hill, Reed Jaeger, Kayla Jenkins, Ruby Mangum, Cassandra Mensah, Ashton Wingate, and Shelby Wong. 

Editorial Board Members  

Janai Nelson 
Tona Boyd 
Sherrilyn Ifill 
Ted Shaw 
Elaine Jones  
Patrick Patterson 
Charles Stephen Ralston 
Gabriel Solís 
UNC Southern Oral History Program 
Durable Digital