What became known as Mississippi Freedom Summer was a project of SNCC - the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee. Three of those volunteers were murdered: Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The Freedom Summer workers sought to build on the momentum of the civil rights movement which had spurred the 1964 Civil rights Act Their objective was to create "freedom schools" which would encourage Black Mississippians to stand up for their rights. That summer three civil rights workers were killed, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party lost its fight to represent the state at the Democratic National Convention and the southern civil rights movement reached a peak. The next year the Voting Rights Act would pass and much of the attention shift north and west to the large cities. - gwc
Summer of 1964 - They Heard the Call of Freedom
by Eric Moskowitz // Boston Globe
They were idealists taking on the nation’s shame, students who stood with brave, black Mississippians denied a most basic civil right: the vote
No comments:
Post a Comment