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An Activist Explains the Conflicted Role of Women in the March on Washington
Dorothy Height became active in civil rights causes in the 1930s, working towards anti-lynching legislation, desegregation of the military, and other issues. In 1957 she was elected the president of the National Council of Negro Women, and was the [...]
Fannie Lou Hamer Electrifies the Democratic Convention
Fannie Lou Hamer grew up as one of 20 children born to sharecroppers in rural Mississippi. She and her husband were eking out a living as sharecroppers near Ruleville when, at the age of 44, she decided to attend a mass meeting about voting in [...]
An African American Tells Why She Followed Malcolm X
Ethel Minor offers her perspective on the black freedom struggle in this 1997 interview with Catherine Osborn. A follower of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, Minor found the integrationist aims of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers [...]
Bayard Rustin Reflects on the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
In this oral history Bayard Rustin offers his opinion about why the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, held on August 28, 1963, was a success. Rustin was an organizer of the march along with many others, including A. Philip Randolph, an [...]
A New York City Teacher Recalls an Effort to Integrate a Mississippi Library
Sandra Adickes was a New York City high school teacher who worked during the summers of 1963 and 1964 at "freedom schools" in Virginia and Mississippi. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized these freedom schools as a way to [...]
A SNCC Activist Describes Police Intimidation in the Voter Registration Campaign
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 [...]
Fannie Lou Hamer Recalls the Mississippi Voter Registration Campaign
Fannie Lou Hamer, the last of 20 children and a Mississippi tenant farmer, leapt to national prominence during the 1964 Democratic National Convention, when she eloquently challenged Mississippi's segregated Democratic primary on national [...]
Civil Rights Leaders March on Washington
This photograph shows some of the leaders of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28,1963. The group includes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., front row, second from left and A. Philip Randolph, second from the right. King delivered [...]
"Latino Student Walkouts: In 35 Years, What Has Changed?"
Professor and author Carlos Muñoz, Jr. describes his participation in the 1968 Los Angeles walkouts and the aftermath. He then explores the current inequalities in education and calls for a new wave of student activism and protest.
I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (Excerpt)
In this excerpt from a history of civil rights organizing in Mississippi during the 1960s, author Charles Payne describes the curriculum of the Freedom Schools established by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.