About Us
The African American and Civil Rights Caucus (AACRC) of the Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF) is authorized by the National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), which in turn is a function of the U.S. Library of Congress. Objectives of AACRC include obtaining, studying, and archiving broadcast audio and related content that concerns activities of black people, particularly during the modern Civil Rights Movement but also content concerning the struggles that continue to exist relative to social, economic, and political equality.
The mission of the caucus is to preserve, archive, and educate the public by producing race-specific radio scholarship, disseminating information through mainstream media, and collecting audio programming relevant to civil rights and the struggle for socio-political justice. The caucus’s vision is to improve the public’s awareness and understanding of the roles radio played and continues to play in challenging white supremacy, augmenting the movement toward racial equality, and inspiring efforts to mold America into a better place for all people. The caucus promotes and supports scholarship about, preservation of and access to historical and contemporary materials.
Caucus members have presented scholarship, offered PowerPoint presentations and audio stories, and provided other content and materials at national conferences. Members have also published their scholarship in academic journals. The nearly 20 research associates of the caucus are scholars, archivists, and broadcast professionals. The caucus’s research associates contribute relevant race-specific, radio-related scholarship or services intended to preserve, archive, or educate the public. Research associates have published, archived, or otherwise disseminated knowledge concerning the history of black people, radio broadcasting, the Civil Rights Movement and other audio concerning socio-political justice and equality. AACRC works under the Radion Preservation Task Force.
Mission
The African American and Civil Rights Caucus of the Radio
Preservation Task Force promotes the study of audio media
relevant to the struggle for civil rights, aids in the preservation of
related artifacts and archival materials, publishes analyses of
historical and contemporary sound media, and shares such
information with the public.
Vision
The AACRC works to improve the public’s awareness and
understanding of the roles radio and audio media played and
continue to play in challenging white supremacy, supporting
movements toward racial equality, and inspiring efforts to
transform the United States into a better country for all people.