University Public Affairs launched the Freedom Now Project with this article:

"Virginia Commonwealth University is hoping for the public's help in shedding new light on a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle in Virginia with a new exhibit of 277 photographs taken during nonviolent civil rights protests in Farmville, Va., in the summer of 1963.

VCU Libraries has posted these images to the photo sharing site Flickr to create the Freedom Now Project, a group of 13 photo sets that provides a close-up look at the protests held in downtown Farmville.

The project's aim is to provide insight into the experience of nonviolent civil dissent, and the response of a Virginia town to these demonstrations. As part of the project, the public is being invited to participate in the exhibit by sharing information they may have about people and locations and contributing personal remembrances about these historic events.

"The photographs in the Freedom Now Project make a significant contribution to our understanding of a very important event in the history of Virginia and the nation," said Alice Campbell, a VCU Libraries digital initiatives archivist who is overseeing the project. "By sharing them on Flickr, we hope to reach a broad audience – which could be anyone from primary school students to researchers, citizens of Farmville, the commonwealth of Virginia, or anywhere in the world." The article