Mississippi Freedom Summer

(noun)

(Also known as the Mississippi Summer Project) a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many, African American voters as possible in Mississippi which had historically excluded most blacks from voting.

Related Terms

Examples of Mississippi Freedom Summer in the following topics:

  • Women of the Civil Rights Movement

    • She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi's Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1964, and later became the vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
    • Though the incident had profound physical and psychological effects, Hamer returned to Mississippi to organize voter registration drives, including the "Freedom Ballot Campaign", a mock election, in 1963, and the Freedom Summer initiative in 1964.
    • In the summer of 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, or "Freedom Democrats" for short, was organized with the purpose of challenging Mississippi's all-white and anti-civil rights delegation to the Democratic National Convention, which failed to represent all Mississippians.
    • During the summer of 1964, Baker worked together with Hamer and Robert Parris Moses to formally organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as an alternative to the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party.
    • Fannie Lou Hamer was instrumental in organizing Mississippi's Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1964, and later became the vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

  • The Flowering of Black Freedom Struggle

    • During the 1960s the black freedom struggle included the 1963 March on Washington, the 1964 Freedom Summer, and the 1965 March in Selma.
    • It played a major role in organizing sit-ins and freedom rides, the 1963 March on Washington, the Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party over the next few years.
    • Though Freedom Summer failed to register many voters, it significantly effected the course of the Civil Rights Movement.
    • Before Freedom Summer, the national news media had paid little attention to the persecution of black voters in the Deep South and the dangers endured by black civil rights workers.
    • On June 21, 1964, the Freedom Summer got national attention when three civil rights workers disappeared .

  • Legislative Change

    • In the summer of 1963, various parts of the civil rights movement collaborated to run voter education and voter registration drives in Mississippi.
    • During Freedom Summer in 1964, hundreds of students from the North went there to participate in voter drives and community organizing.
    • The media coverage and violent backlash, with the murders of three civil rights workers near Philadelphia, Mississippi, contributed to national support for civil rights legislation.

  • The Emergence of the Civil Rights Movement

    • During the Freedom Summer campaign of 1964, numerous tensions within the Civil Rights Movement came to the forefront.
    • Additionally, there was profound disillusionment at Lyndon Johnson's denial of voting status for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
    • In 1965, SNCC helped organize an independent political party, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), in the heart of Alabama Klan territory, and permitted its black leaders to openly promote the use of armed self-defense.
    • Meanwhile, the Deacons for Defense and Justice expanded into Mississippi and assisted Charles Evers' NAACP chapter with a successful campaign in Natchez.
    • In Mississippi, Stokely Carmichael, one of SNCC's leaders, declared, "I'm not going to beg the white man for anything that I deserve, I'm going to take it.

  • Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides

    • The remaining activists continued to Mississippi, where they were arrested when they attempted to desegregate the waiting rooms in the Jackson bus terminal.
    • Despite being faced with severe violence, the freedom rides made an impact. 
    • Though Freedom Summer failed to register many voters, it significantly effected the course of the Civil Rights Movement.
    • Before Freedom Summer, the national news media had paid little attention to the persecution of black voters in the Deep South and the dangers endured by black civil rights workers.
    • In the spring of 1962, SNCC began organizing voter registration in the Mississippi Delta area.

  • Examples Revisited

    • In the next class, they watch an episode of the PBS series "Eyes on the Prize" entitled "Mississippi: Is this America?
    • " This program depicts the efforts of black and white college student volunteers to help African American Mississippians register to vote during the "Freedom Summer of 1964. " These student workers serve as role models for the student viewers.
    • Gibson realizes that even when her students know the importance of making healthy food and exercise choices, they may not have the freedom to act on this knowledge.

  • Siege of Vicksburg

    • The Vicksburg Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the western theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River.
    • While in their hands, it blocked Union navigation down the Mississippi.
    • On April 29 and April 30, 1863, Grant's army crossed the Mississippi and landed at Bruinsburg, Mississippi.
    • This defeat was the second major blow to the Confederacy in the summer of 1863.
    • "Admiral Porter's Fleet Running the Rebel Blockade of the Mississippi at Vicksburg, April 16th 1863."

  • Youth Culture and Delinquency

    • Youth culture during the 1960s counterculture was characterized by the Summer of Love and the casual use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs.
    • The Summer of Love became a defining moment in the 1960s as the hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness.
    • San Francisco was the center of the hippie revolution; during the Summer of Love, it became a melting pot of music, psychedelic drugs, sexual freedom, creative expression, new forms of dress, and politics.
    • When people returned home from the Summer of Love, these styles and behaviors spread quickly from San Francisco and Berkeley to many U.S., Canadian, and even European cities.
    • Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters helped shape the developing character of the 1960s counterculture during the summer of 1964 when they embarked on a cross-country voyage in a psychedelic school bus named "Further."

  • Racial Prejudice in the Jackson Era

    • Although the Jackson presidency witnessed an expansion of liberty for some, it also saw the continued suppression of freedom for others.
    • Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which authorized the President to negotiate treaties that exchanged Indian tribal lands in the eastern states for lands west of the Mississippi River.

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition

    • President Jefferson had long been interested in the trans-Mississippi West.
    • Despite three centuries of European emigration, North America beyond the Mississippi River had remained largely untouched.
    • Jefferson was highly interested in surveying the flora, fauna, geology, and ethnography of the vast territory west of the Mississippi River.
    • Louis in the summer of 1804, rowing and sailing in long-boats up the Missouri River.