Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway Project

Contains research, correspondence, and notes related to the Division's report on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway project in the late 1970s to early 1980s. This project addressed overlapping issues of housing and urban development, employment, and vocational education. "The Division worked closely with the Minority People's Council on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (MPC), an organization of Blacks, based at the center of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in Epes, Alabama, that seeks equitable participation of blacks in the planning and economic development related to the Waterway. In August 1977, we released a 'White Paper' jointly with MPC in which we charged the Corps of Engineers, HUD and other federal agencies with total disregard of the needs of black citizens in the employment and other economic benefits associated with the Waterway. The expose led to some important reforms in the Corps operation," said Jean Fairfax in the 1983 Background Paper. Tennessee-Tombigbee materials can be found elsewhere in the collection too, including the Vocational Education/Project ALERT Workshop Kits subfolder.