Literacy Test What are your reactions to this literacy test? Which parts did you find difficult?

Fighting for Voting Rights Essential Question: What methods did civil rights workers use to gain voting rights for African-Americans in the South?

Gaining Voting Rights  Attorney General RFK urged SNCC leaders to focus on voter registration rather than on protests  SNCC, CORE, and other groups founded the Voter Education Project (VEP) to register southern African Americans to vote  VEP was a success—by 1964 they had registered more than ½ mil more African American voters

Freedom Summer, 1964 Voter registration drive in Mississippi Organized by SNCC Trainers were Af- Am, volunteers were northern white college students 3 volunteers went missing

Massive manhunt begins Local authorities would not cooperate Bodies found and 2/3 of workers went home Accused went to federal court – 7 men convicted and given 4-10 year sentences Successes of Freedom Summer? Interesting criticism

Selma Campaign  Selma had a majority of Af- Ams but made up only 3% of the registered voters  MLK Jr. and SCLC organized a march from Selma to Montgomery  600 Af-Ams began the 54- mile march, but city and state police blocked their way and attacked them  TV cameras captured police brutality

Edmund Pettus Bridge – “Bloody Sunday”

Voting Rights Act of 1965 Outlawed use of discriminatory devices such as literacy tests and poll taxes and allowed federal officials to monitor voting registration By the end of the year over 250,000 Af-Ams had registered to vote

Talk to your neighbor: 1) What was Freedom Summer and what crisis occurred that summer? 2) What was the purpose of the Selma campaign? What happened during the march? 3) Why is the Voting Rights Act of 1965 significant?