Open records requests from RISE St. James in Louisiana revealed critically important information about the burial grounds of formerly enslaved Black people. Photo credit: Bron Moyi for Louisiana Bucket Brigade.

Open Records Explainers for Southern-Based Organizers!

The Center for Constitutional Rights’ Southern Regional Office(link is external) and Open Records Project(link is external) have created a series of toolkits for activists, advocates, organizers, and community members in Southern states interested in obtaining public records from state government agencies or officials in  four states: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. In recent years, we have seen how open records requests can be extremely useful tools for local and national advocacy, the media, litigation, and organizing campaigns(link is external)such as the work the Center for Constitutional Rights continues to do in support of activists in Louisiana(link is external).

You can find each of the state toolkits, which contain a brief explainer on how to file requests, as well as an annotated sample request, on our FOIA Basics for Activists website here: http://foiabasics.org/sweettea