Freedom+Summer

= Freedom Summer Summer of 1964  //a highly publicized campaign in the South to register blacks to vote// =

Freedom summer (also known as the Mississpipi project); was a campaign in the United States, attempting to get as many African American people living in Missisippi to vote. The project also set up dozens of Freedom Schools and Freedom Houses in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local black population. The Freedom Summer started in 1961, the leaders of the campain (The SNCC) targeted the end of segregation in Missisippi. They called on young volunteers to assist by running freedom schools by teaching typing and reading, and assisting in the completion of voting registration forms. Freedom Summer volunteers faced great danger in participating in the Civil Rights Movement, as there was a constant threat of violence but because of years of earlier work by numerous African Americans who lived locally in Mississippi, the Freedom Summer campaign was possible. In 1962 only 6.7% of African American people in Missipippi were signed up to vote, which was the lowest percentage in the USA. Demonstrating the success of the movement - during the Summer, more then 80,000 Missippians joined the Mississippi Freedom Party. During the 10 weeks of Freedom Summer, more than 100 volunteer doctors, nurses, psychologists, medical students and other medical professionals from the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) provided emergency care for volunteers and local activists, taught health education classes, and advocated improvements in Mississippi's segregated health system.

During the Freedom Summer, many of the white people living in Missisippi at the time disliked the outsiders because they didn't like how they were trying to change their society, so many of the locals harassed the volunteers with drive by shootings, Molotov cocktails (generic name used for a variety of improvised incenidary weapons) and just constant harassment. The people in the newspapers called the outsiders "unshaven and unwashed trash."

Freedom schools were often targets of white mobs. So also were the homes of local African Americans involved in the campaign. That summer 30 black homes and 37 black churches were firebombed. Over 80 volunteers were beaten by white mobs or racist police officers and three men, were murdered by the Ku Klax Klan. This attempt to frighten others from joining the campaign failed and by late 1964 over 70,000 students had taken part in Freedom Summer.

Bibliography: Retrospective Year 11 Modern History - Anderson, Low & Keese (2008) John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [] [] []