The NAACP and the Verizon Foundation unveiled the first interactive time line of black history that will feature the story of the Civil Rights Movement, profiles of leaders and other milestones. The site, www.naacphistory.org, was unveiled on Tuesday at a press conference."This is a seminal program that will not only walk students, participants and historians through history, but it will also document history as it happens," said Leila McDowell, vice president of communications for the NAACP.

The site will feature Hollywood celebrities as narrators, introducing students to various milestones in black history. Laurence Fishburne, Tatyana Ali, Chandra Wilson, Tichina Arnold, Tracey Ellis Ross, Nia Long, Dennis Hasybert, Hill Harper, Nate Parker and Percy Miller are among the celebrities who have signed on to participate in the project.
The site, the NAACP Interactive Historical Timeline, is funded through a $500,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation.

Resources from the NAACP time line will also be made available to teachers, students and parents through Verizon Thinkfinity, a free educational Web site developed by the leading organizations in the academic world.

Unlike Wikipedia, where users can add information at will, project managers will ferret information provided by historians and users before it appears on the site. Users can send in submissions via e-mail, which will be sent to the NAACP's new media department to be vetted.

Vic Bulluck, executive director of the NAACP's Hollywood Bureau, said a diverse group of corporations have contributed to this effort. CBS provided historical footage from newscasts, as well as the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institute. The NAACP also conducted a series of interviews with civil rights leaders as well as people who participated in the movement.

"This will allow teachers to bring history in to the classroom," said NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous.
"This is incredibly important not only as part of our history, but it's integral to our future," added actress Tatyana Ali.