Chart of Votes for Freedom Candidates in Official Elections
Civil Rights and Citizenship
A coalition of activists led by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) initiated a statewide direct-action voter registration and education campaign in Mississippi. Although most remembered for 1964's Freedom Summer, when black and white college students traveled south to participate, SNCC's campaign started in 1961. Organizers held workshops and classes around the state to teach african Americans how to read and interpret the state constitution, which was a required part of the notorious "literacy tests" designed to keep black citizens from voting. The activists also organized the Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to challenge the all-white delegation that represented Mississippi at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. The MFDP's candidates for other local and state elections included women like Fannie Lou Hamer, Victoria Jackson Gray and Annie Devine.
Unknown
"Votes for Freedom Candidates in Official Elections," (Mississippi, 1966), from Tougaloo College Archives, <em>Freedom Now! An Archival Project of Tougaloo College and Brown University</em>, http://stg.brown.edu/projects/FreedomNow/do_search_single.php?searchid=112&x=19&y=40.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1966
English
Postwar America (1946-1975)
Police Photograph Black Voters in Mississippi
Civil Rights and Citizenship
This photograph was published in a report chronicling the intimidation and violence towards African-American voting activists. As the original photo caption notes, police documented voters as they entered courthouses so that the "evidence" could later be used to identify them to employers and landlords for possible firing and eviction. The report was most likely published and distributed by SNCC, though it was based on research that was originally compiled and entered into the United States Congressional Record in 1963.
Unknown
Jack Minnis, <em>A Chronology of Violence and Intimidation in Mississippi Since 1961</em>, (Mississippi, circa 1963), 4, from the University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archives, http://digilib.usm.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/manu&CISOPTR=3118&REC=16.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1964 (Circa)
English
Postwar America (1946-1975)
John Lewis Tells America to "Wake Up"
Civil Rights and Citizenship
John Lewis, the 23-year-old chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) drafted the speech excerpted below for the 1963 March on Washington. When copies of the speech were circulated in advance, march organizers, as well as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, objected to his strong rhetoric and criticisms of the federal government. The speech that Lewis delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 was a toned-down version that he agreed to only after aging civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph personally appealed to him not to endanger the success of such a historic event.
John Lewis
In John Lewis and Michael D'Orson, <em>Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement</em> (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999), 216-23, 225-28.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1963
1555
English
Speech
Postwar America (1946-1975)
SNCC Outlines a "Citizenship Curriculum" for Mississippi
Civil Rights and Citizenship
Social Movements
This curriculum was created by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) for their Freedom Schools, part of the Freedom Summer organizing effort that brought hundreds of college students from around the country to Mississippi in the summer of 1964. SNCC hoped that the Freedom Schools would serve as a "parallel institution" to the Mississippi public schools that served African-American students poorly or not at all, and planned that they would offer both traditional academic subjects and training in activism and leadership skills. The volunteer teachers were encouraged to use participatory teaching methods that built on students' own experiences.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Citizenship Curriculum," <em>Freedom School Curriculum</em>, 1964, available from http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/C_CC1_Units1to6.htm
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1964
Permission to use this document was obtained from <a href="http://educationanddemocracy.org/index.html" target="_blank">Education and Democracy</a>. See Education and Democracy to obtain permission to republish or use this document for anything other than non-commerical educational purposes.
English
Pamphlet
Postwar America (1946-1975)
<em>Prospectus for a Summer Freedom School Program in Mississippi</em> (Excerpt)
Civil Rights and Citizenship
Social Movements
This plan, written by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member Charles Cobb, proposed that SNCC include Freedom Schools as part of the massive organizing effort it was planning for the summer of 1964. SNCC was creating Freedom Summer to bring hundreds of college students from around the country to Mississippi, and Cobb believed that some of these students could be put to good use helping African-American youth develop their own organizing and leadership capacity.
Charles Cobb
Charles Cobb, "Prospectus for a Summer Freedom School Program," December 1963, <em>Freedom School Curriculum</em>, http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/B_05_ProspForFSchools.htm
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1963
Permission to use this document was obtained from <a href="http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/index.html" target="_blank">Education and Democracy</a>. See Education and Democracy to obtain permission to republish or use this document for anything other than non-commerical educational purposes.
English
Pamphlet
Postwar America (1946-1975)
A SNCC Activist Describes Police Intimidation in the Voter Registration Campaign
Civil Rights and Citizenship
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) enlisted young people and local leaders to register and encourage southern African Americans to vote during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Because the young organizers faced tremendous risks by challenging segregation and encouraging people to vote, the group earned a reputation as the "shock troops" of the Civil Rights movement. Hollis Watkins joined SNCC in the early 1960s and canvassed potential voters in the area of McComb, Mississippi. He also participated in direct actions, for which he served time in jail. Watkins remembered the risks SNCC organizers faced when working alone and in pairs, and the support they received from the African-American community.
Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive
Hollis Watkins to John Rachal, "An Oral History with Mr. Hollis Watkins," interview, University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archive, <em>Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive</em> http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/crda/oh/watkins.htm.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1995
Used by permission of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.
English
Oral History
Postwar America (1946-1975)