The Mississippi Freedom Summer

## Basic facts/Overview

* Organised in 1964
	+ It was run by COFO
		- SNCC and CORE worked on the project
* It sought to increase black voter registration in Mississippi and throughout the south
	+ This happened prior to the presidential election in November that year
* The project predominantly consisted of white student volunteers from the north
	+ Mostly from privileged background

* America took notice of the Mississippi Freedom Summer when three activists, two of whom where white, were murdered by segregationists who probably were a part of the Ku Klux Klan
	+ Prior to this the Freedom Summer workers got frequently impeded and bullied by members of the white population in Mississippi

## How it unfolded

### Mississippi was targeted because:

* Its social and political demographics
	+ Held one of the most hard-line white supremacist state governments

* Highest percentage of black people - 45%
	+ Black people in Mississippi experienced more beatings, lynchings and racial crime than in any other state

* Virtually the poorest of all US states
* Low levels of African American voter registration
	+ 5% of voting-age blacks in the state got registered to cote in 1962 - 16% below national average

### The workers

* The 300 workers arrived in mid-June
	+ Operated under the most difficult and dangerous circumstances

* The police force of Mississippi's capital city of Jackson were prepared to deal with the workers in the same way as the authorities in Birmingham
	+ **"We are going to see that law and order is maintained - and maintained Mississippi style!" - Governor Johnson**
		- Equipped to meet any disturbances and heavily reinforced with extra shotguns, tear gas and even a tank on standby

### The school system

* It became apparent that the state had spent 82 dollars per white students but only 22 dollars per black student
* It became evident that the educational curriculum was controlled
	+ textbooks praising the southern way of life and ignoring black achievements

* CORE, the SNCC and the NAACP established fifty Freedom Schools
	+ People volunteered as teachers
	+ The curriculum now included black history and the Civil Rights Movement philosophy
	+ Aim was to correct the educational imbalance in Mississippi
		- Allowing political debate and artistic expression
		- Offering key subjects such as mathematics, science and remedial reading
* The school promoted courses in acting, public speaking and journalism
	+ 3 000 students attended
		- Three times greater than the anticipated number

## Consequences

* The freedom Summer had undermined the solidarity that existed in the Civil Rights Movement during previous years
	+ A growing difference between those who agreed with King's ways of integration and non-violence, and those who felt that peaceful protest was not the best way of getting full racial equality and wanted a more radical approach

* The registration of around only 1 600 African Americans
	+ Viewed as a dismalfailure by some while others saw it as a small but vital step towards the democratisation of voting in Mississippi
		- MFDP actions ensured that there would never be a completely white delegation at a DemocratiC convention

* The Freedom Summer secured enfranchisement for some black people in Mississippi and highlighted their struggle for media worldwide
* Many in the Civil Rights Movement began looking for different remedies in solving the persistent problem of African American subordination