What do we want? When do we want it? Freedom NOW

Freedom Summer “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” -Martin Luther King Jr. 1964

The Fifteenth Amendment In 1870 the fifteenth amendment to the constitution allowed “all” the right to vote. Local officials deliberatly prevented Blacks from voting through several methods such as: Poll Tax-a required tax to register to vote. Most Blacks could not afford to pay the tax. Literacy test- a required test in order to register to vote. The tests were designed to prevent Blacks from passing, although most Blacks could not read or write as it was. Grandfather Clause- Descendents of slaves were not allowed to vote Fear and Intimidation through beatings and lynchings. Interpretation of the Law

Prelude to Freedom Summer Mississippi Blacks only represented 6.7 percent of the voting pool (the lowest in the country). Peak of intensive voter registration activities began in 1961 under the leadership of Medgar Evers In the state capital, Jackson, NAACP state field secretary Medgar Evers organized a boycott of downtown stores. Hundreds of protesters were arrested in June 1963, with the mayor taking a hard line against them. June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy went on television asking Americans to support his civil rights bill That night Evers was assassinated. The murder weapon was traced to Citizens Council member Byron De La Beckwith, who would be tried twice and acquitted by all-white juries.

The spark that lit the fire of Freedom in Mississippi On June 7, 1963 Medgar Evers, told a crowd at the NAACP voting rally, "Freedom has never been free... I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, if that would make a better life for them." Four days later, he was gunned down in his driveway. T-shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go” “Jim Crow Must Go” were left the front seat of his car.

Freedom Schools Freedom Summer officials established 30 “Freedom Schools” throughout Mississippi. The schools were developed to address racial inequality in the educational system The schools were poorly funded, teachers had to use hand-me-down textbooks that offered a racial slant on history. The schools were expected to draw 1000 and ended up with 3000.

Freedom Summer

The training… On 13 June 1964, the first group of summer volunteers began training at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. About three-quarters of the approximately 1,000 Freedom Summer volunteers were white, northern college students from middle- and upper- class backgrounds. The training sessions in Oxford, Ohio, were intended to prepare the volunteers to register black voters and to teach at "Freedom Schools."

The Dangers of being involved: The activists of Freedom Summer found themselves up against threats from white supremacists groups, local residents, and police…

37 black churches 30 black homes And many businesses were firebombed or burned More than 1000 black and white volunteers were arrested. At least eighty were beaten by white mobs or racist police officers… Violence

Murder… On June 21 the young men set out to investigate a church bombing near Philadelphia, Mississippi. The Zion Methodist Church was to be the first “Freedom School” in Meridan, outside of Philadelphia Parishioners had reluctantly agreed to have the church used as a school for teaching children to read and write and to train adults how to pass literacy tests in Mississippi The church was in ruins

Arrest The three were arrested at 3 pm by Sheriff Cecil Price for speeding and thrown in jail until 10 pm When they were released from jail it was the last time they were seen alive. EXCEPT BY THEIR MURDERERS… Price and two-carloads of klansmen followed the three out of town, blocked their car in, and forced them off the road Chaney was hit with a rubber hose and the three were loaded in Price’s car… The boys were missing for six weeks.

Murder… James Chaney a black volunteer from Mississippi Andrew Goodman and Michael Shwerner his co-workers both from New York, “outsiders”

An Article was released titled: “How we feel about the missing boys”

Murder… The FBI was called in by Pres. Johnson to investigate their disappearance… August 4: The “badly decomposed” bodies of the three were unearthed in a nearby dam Goodman and Schwerner died from single gunshot wounds to the chest Chaney was tortured and savagely beaten

The Nation’s Reaction The headlines lead to an outpouring of national support for the Civil Rights Movement. The murders attracted much more support then previous attacks because two of the victims were white volunteers.

Negative Results By summer's end, according to records kept by the Congress of Racial Equality, 37 black churches and 30 black homes and businesses in Mississippi had been bombed or burned. More than 1,000 volunteers were arrested there, 80 were beaten, three were killed. The murderers of the three freedom workers were found guilty of civil rights violations in federal court and sentenced to prison The state of Mississippi refused to file murder charges against the sheriff, his deputies, and the 20 + members of the KKK who murdered the three because of lack of evidence

Positive Results 3,000+ children attended Mississippi Freedom Schools. 80,000+ people the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which, drew so much attention to the mainstream Democratic Party that all later Democrat conventions dropped the lily- white bias. When Medgar died in 1963, only 28,000 blacks were registered voters. By 1971, there were 250,000 and by 1982 over 500,000. The federal voting rights act passed in 1965.

1965 Voting Act Freedom Summer brought to the attention of the nation the disenfranchisement of Blacks, which led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Act was a federal legislation that outlawed the tactics of the South to prevent Blacks from voting.

“Before the 1964 project there were people that wanted change, but they hadn’t dared to come out. After 1964 people began moving. To me it’s one of the greatest things that ever happened in Mississippi.” -Fannie Lou Hamer, MFDP Delegate

Freedom Summer: