FREEDOM SUMMER MISSISSIPPI 1964
ESSENTIAL QUESTION Why is the right to vote worth fighting for?
WHAT WAS FREEDOM SUMMER?
FREEDOM SUMMER, Goal of movement: Make political power and voter registration the focus of the civil-rights agenda; increase number of African American voters
FREEDOM SUMMER, Less than 7% of Mississippi’s African Americans were registered to vote -(In comparison, 50-70% in neighboring southern states) -Why was the percentage so low in Mississippi? -Strict voter registration rules
FREEDOM SUMMER, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) -Proposes 10 week movement -Northern, white students join activists in Mississippi -Intent: Force the national media and citizens to acknowledge the violence and voting practices in Mississippi
FREEDOM SUMMER, initiatives: 1.Voter Registration 2.Freedom Schools 3.Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
FREEDOM SUMMER, Gov’t response? -Increase police forces -New ordinances passed -Preparations for riots (increased weaponry)
VOTER REGISTRATION -Student training for the Mississippi Summer Project (Freedom Summer) takes place at Western College for Women (Oxford, Ohio) -Over 1,200 volunteers by June (only 700 picked to go to Mississippi) -123 students from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton alone -Push for increase in African American voter registration -By the end of the summer: 1600 new voters
VOTER REGISTRATION CANVASSING
FREEDOM SCHOOLS
MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY (MFDP) -Demonstration that African Americans would participate in the political process, if they’re given the opportunity -Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey -Challenge all-white Mississippi delegation -68 delegates sent to DNC -Members of MFDP testify in front of the Credentials Committee at the DNC
FANNIE LOU HAMER Civil Rights Activist Worked for SNCC Co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Daughter of sharecroppers Dropped out of school to help family Fired from job and kicked off plantation for registering to vote
FANNIE LOU HAMER