[Terminology:In the articles below, various authors use either "Summer Project," or "Freedom Summer," or both interchangeably. This website uses "Mississippi Summer Project" to refer to the effort organized and led by COFO/SNCC, and "Freedom Summer" to refer to the totality of efforts in Mississippi over the summer of 1964, including the Summer Project along with the efforts of organizations such as Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR), National Council of Churches (NCC) and other religious groups, National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), and the various legal support operations such as the ACLU, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Lawyer's Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC) and so on.
In most of these articles, the term "volunteer" refers to people from out of state — Black and white — who came to Mississippi for Freedom Summer. The many, many thousands of Afro-American Mississippians who participated were also unpaid volunteers and but they are usually refered to as "local."
]
Contents:
Articles From CRMVets History & Timeline Articles by Freedom Movement Veterans Personal Memories of Freedom Summer Remembrances of Freedom School Students
Some Notes on Education, Charles Cobb, SNCC. Tired of Being Sick and Tired, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. The Nation, June 1, 1964. (SNCC reprint) Long Hot Summer in Mississippi & Letter From the South, Kitty Baker, WILPF. July 1964. The Southern Front: 2 Weeks in Mississippi, Bell Gale (Jackson). (Village Voice) Freedom Day in Cleveland MS, Wally Roberts. July, 1964 Violence in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. August 1964 Mission in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. (Hattiesburg Ministers Project). Draft. 8/19/64 Freedom Schools Open a Door to the World, Joanne Grant. National Guardian. August 29, 1964 All My Days, Wally Roberts. July, 1964 Freedom Summer sermon, Rev. Bruce Hanson, SNCC. August 2, 1964 SNCC: Collegians vs The Klan, Jerry DeMuth. Rogue Magazine, August 1964 Mississippi at Atlantic City Charles Sherrod, SNCC. August 1964
Mimeo version, Reprint version,Letter From Jackson re Freedom Summer, Calvin Trillin, New Yorker. August 29, 1964 The Cat and Mouse Game, Elizabeth Sutherland (Betita Martinez), SNCC (reprint from The Nation, Sept 1964) A Parent Looks Beyond The Summer, William Mandel. (Campus CORE-Lator) The Mississippi Summer Project and the Closed Society, Joe White. (Campus CORE-Lator) Summer in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. Nation magazine. September 14 1964 Bob Moses Speech to National Guardian Dinner, November. Deeper Than Politics, Mississippi Freedom Schools, Liz Fusco, Freedom School coordinator. Liberation, November 1964 Journey to Understanding: Four Witnesses to a Mississippi Summer, Nation. December 1964
"Introduction," Howard Zinn
"The Lawyer," William M. Kunstler
"The Minister," Beverly Allen Asbury
"The Educator," Richard J. BernsteinTremor in the Iceberg: The Mississippi Summer, Eric Morton. (Freedomways) Life in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer. (Freedomways.) Freedom Schools Concept and Organization, Staughton Lynd. (Freedomways.) The Free Speech Movement and the Negro Revolution (52 page pamphlet), Mario Savio, Eugene Walker, Raya Dunayevskaya, Bob Moses. July 1965 Mississippi 1964, Jo Ann Ooiman Robinson. (Fellowship), June 1989 Mississippi Musings: Freedom Summer Revisited, Mike Miller (Social Policy, Fall 1994)
In the summer of 1964 close to a thousand volunteers came to Mississippi in support of the Movement. They worked on projects across the state. Led by SNCC and CORE field secretaries, they helped Afro-Americans try to register to vote and join the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), they taught in Freedom Schools, participated in community organizing, and endured the danger and hardship of civil rights work in the Deep South.
Most of the SNCC, CORE, and SCLC staff who led the volunteers were African
American
Most of the volunteers — but certainly not
all — were college students or recent grads.
Most of the volunteers — but certainly not
all — were from the North.
Most of the volunteers — but certainly not
all — were white.
They were warned of the danger they would face — but they came anyway. Three were murdered by racist police and Klan, others were beaten, abused, and jailed. These are their stories:
Together, they were a living witness of solidarity with the courageous communities of Mississippi who were demanding freedom and equality for all.
If you were a volunteer, send us your story for posting here. You can email photocopies to: webmaster@crmvet.org.
Jacqulyn Reed Cockfield Zellie Rainey Orr Emily Rembert If you were a Freedom School student, send us your remembrance for posting here. You can email it to: webmaster@crmvet.org.
Documents From Freedom Summer Letters From Mississippi Freedom Summer Mississippi ~ Into the Storm (Articles 1955-1963) Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) (Articles) McComb Mississippi Incidents & Events Mississippi Movement web links Freedom Summer Web Links Mississippi Movement for books.
See also:
Letters & Reports From Mississippi Freedom Summer
Summer Project Documents
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Documents
Freedom Summer Press Releases
MFDP Articles by Movement Veterans
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