1960S HISTORY  CIVIL RIGHTS UNIT freedom summer SALSBERRY 1960S HISTORY  CIVIL RIGHTS UNIT

BACKGROUND  Freedom Summer (1964) What/Goal: A campaign to register African-Americans to vote When: June of 1964 Where: Mississippi Who: SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) and COFO (Council of Federated Organizations); mostly white volunteers (90%) Remind the students that SNCC first gained national attention for staging sit-ins at lunch counters (Pictured: Bottom Right) Ask the students what they think about the SNCC symbol (Pictured: Top Right) Also, ask the students why they think 90% of the volunteers were white (Answer: Blacks were scared of retaliation from the KKK. Tell the students that groups like the NAACP were against Freedom Summer for this reason).

WHAT WERE SOME OTHER GOALS OF “FREEDOM SUMMER” Set-up freedom schools and freedom houses Establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Inform the students that freedom schools and houses were put in place to offer support and assistance to African Americans that were being intimidated. After this slide, go over with the students again what the three goals of Freedom Summer were (1. Register black voters, 2. Set-up freedom schools and houses, 3. establish the MFDP).

CONNECTION TO OHIO The volunteers were given two weeks of training in Oxford, Ohio at what is now Miami University

“Shock troops of the revolution” GUESS WHO?  Inform the students that the SNCC were sometimes referred to as the “Shock troops of the revolution” because they participated in radical events like “Freedom Summer.” Also inform the students that Bob Dylan was a supporter for SNCC along with many other white and Jewish people. “Shock troops of the revolution”

FREEDOM SUMMER VOLUNTEERS This is a picture of volunteers in Mississippi during the “Freedom Summer” campaign. “Unshaven and unwashed trash” is what a lot of people in Mississippi referred to these volunteers as. This highlights the attitude people in Mississippi had about people coming to their state with the desire to change their society. Point out that many of these people were white and again stress that a lot of African-Americans were scared to participate in these kinds of events because of the intimidation tactics used by the Klan (beatings, burnings, lynchings, murder, etc.) “Unshaven and unwashed trash”

VIOLENCE  What happened? Tension between citizens and volunteers KKK carried out a plot to kill three volunteers in Philadelphia, Mississippi 2 White and Jewish 1 Black Explain to the student the plot (The Deputy Sherriff (Cecil Price) arrested the three men pictured above for speeding and jailed them until he could meet with his fellow Klansmen to work out the details of their release and execution. Explain to the students that after their release from the jail, Price ordered the three men into his car so he could then turn them over to the Klansmen which had been following in two cars behind the Deputy Sherriff’s vehicle. Once in their custody, the Klansmen committed the beating of James Chaney and subsequent murder of the three men).

MISSISSIPPI BURNING  Describes the events surrounding the court case United States v. Cecil Price et al. Cecil Price was the Deputy Sherriff Highlights the tension between the federal level (the FBI) and the local level (the local police) Explain to the students that this is a picture of Deputy Sheriff Price and Sheriff Rainey at the arraignment hearing in 1964. Also explain to the students that the court case did not occur until 1967, and only then with a segregationist judge and an all-white jury. Also explain to the students that the FBI were dragging their feet until RFK got involved and ordered a full scale search of the swamp where their bodies were dumped.