Freedom Summer and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Mississippi Summer Project Also known as the Freedom Summer ◦Goal was to get as many black Americans registered to vote as possible ◦Historically Mississippi had exclude most blacks from voting ◦Mississippi had the lowest percentage of registered black voters June 1964 Organized by COFO (Council of Federated Organizations ◦A grouping together of the Mississippi branches of the 4 major civil rights orgs. (NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, CORE)

Grassroots movement 1963 Freedom Vote ◦Laid the groundwork for 64 ◦Was a mock vote that showed the will of Black Americans in Mississippi to vote when not threatened with violence Next (64) year the grassroots movement starts Strength of the movement would not be coming from the leadership (top down) ◦Strength would come from the common people, or from the “grassroots”

Violence White population deeply hated “outsiders” coming in and changing their society Over the course of the 10 weeks that the freedom summer lasted ◦four civil rights workers were killed (one in a head- on collision) ◦at least three Mississippi blacks were murdered because of their support for the civil rights movement ◦four people were critically wounded ◦eighty Freedom Summer workers were beaten ◦one-thousand and sixty-two people were arrested (volunteers and locals) ◦thirty-seven churches were bombed or burned ◦thirty Black homes or businesses were bombed or burned

Violence cont. James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman (June 1, 1964) ◦Arrested by Cecil Price, deputy sheriff and KKK member ◦Held until night then released into an ambush ◦Goodman and Schwerner were shot point blank, Chaney was chased, beaten and shot 3 times ◦Public did not find bodies until August 4, 1964, buried under an earthen damn

outcomes Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party created ◦Was now a rival to the regular democratic party Even though the # of voters registered was not significant, it did raise national awareness to deep south opposition to black voters Creation of “Freedom Schools” ◦Summer schools that focused on Literacy, Arithmetic, Black History, the Political Process and the Civil Rights Movement

Question……? Answer the Question… ◦What kind of change did the Freedom Summer bring about? ◦How was the Freedom Summer different from other events like the March on Washington or the Montgomery Bus Boycotts?

Civil Rights Act 1964 Enacted July 2, 1964 Major piece of Civil Rights Legislation Signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson Is considered to have been helped into becoming a bill by the March on Washington that happened the year before

Civil Rights Act cont. Main focus was…….. Outlawed major forms of discrimination of racial, ethnic, religious minorities and women Ended racist voter registration practices Outlawed racial segregation in schools Outlawed segregation in the work place and in any area that served the general public

Power to enforce Enforcement of the bill started off weak It used the article to regulate Interstate Commerce from the Constitution ◦Was the loop hole needed to have power over the private job sector (non government funded jobs) ◦This was a show down between states rights and federal power 14 th and 15 th amendments

States rights vs. Federal Power A lot of the battles fought were focused around how much power does the federal government have, and how much power does the individual state have In the south ◦State Rights would allow Segregation and Jim Crow to continue Answer the Question…. ◦Does the federal government have the right to enforce Civil Rights Legislation?