The Civil Rights Movement: Mississippi, A Case Study Mr. McDonald C.E. Jordan High School Durham, North Carolina

Civil Rights Movement What is the Civil Rights Movement? The Civil Rights Movement was a movement by African-Americans (and some whites) of overcoming segregation, discrimination, and racism throughout the country through a variety of protests. This movement expanded from the south throughout the entire country. What is missing from the definition? What would you add?

Mississippi In addition to the many people involved, states and location also played a crucial and important role in the Civil Rights Movement Today, we are going to focus on the role of Mississippi in the movement and some of the events that took place in that state

Population Population Facts Over half the state (56.4%) was made up of African Americans in 1960 Today, whites make up 61.4%, while African Americans make up 36.3% Sources: w/wirt-was.html and Questions to Ponder: 1.What effect does the population have during the Civil Rights movement? 2.What effect might it now have? 3.What role does numbers play in what happens in society?

Emmett Till Murder After making sounds and/or whistling at a white woman (something forbidden during this time), people took Emmett out of his house The 14 year old boy was found beaten to death at the body of a river with a gin mill wrapped around his neck His mother insisted on an open casket so that everyone could see what happened to her son

Tougaloo Nine – 1961 After trying to desegregate a public library, nine students from Tougaloo College were arrested Students like this practiced this method of protest throughout the country and the “sit- in movement” was popular among younger people and college students

James Meredith integrates On September 30 th, 1962, James Meredith became the first African American to be admitted into the University of Mississippi Riots and protest broke out amongst those against his admission

Medgar Evers – killed 1963 Civil Rights activist and member of the NAACP in Mississippi Helped James Meredith integrate Univ of Miss His death, and the story of his killer being brought to justice, is the focus of the movie “Ghosts of Mississippi”

Freedom Summer This was a voter registration project in Mississippi during the Summer of 1964 in at attempt to increase the number of African American voters in the state Support for this effort came from groups like CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Fannie Lou Hamer became the leader of the freedom summer Three Civil Rights workers (Cheney, Goodman, & Schwerner) were killed during the summer; the mastermind of their death was just brought to justice

Questions How did Mississippi play a role in the Civil Rights Movement? How do you think it is similar to other efforts being made throughout the South during this time? How do you think it is different? Was the movement a success in Mississippi? Why or why not?