Our Thoughts

[This section contains retrospectives, analyses, and opinions related to the Freedom Movement and all that came after by Movement veterans. It is open to any veteran of the Southern Freedom Movement during the years 1951-1968 who is listed in the Veterans Roll Call. Submissions Policy]

See The Southern Freedom Movement for articles written by Movement veterans at the time the Movement was taking place.

Jump to:
2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000
1990s, 1980s, 1970s & earlier

2017

The Cluster Bomb of 110 Trump Axioms	Timothy Jenkins
John Dewey and Citizen Politics	Harry Boyte
Three Voices on Horror, Defiance and Love	Allen, Bridgeforth & Hartford
This Button Was My Badge	Stuart Ewen
Honoring Their Departure	Daphne Muse
The Limits of "Clicktivism"	Bruce Hartford
Citizens as Co-Creators of a Democratic Way of Life	Harry Boyte

2016 Election: Thoughts & Comments by Freedom Movement Veterans

	SNCC Legacy Project:	Statement on the 2016 Presidential Election.
	Heather Booth:	Terrifying result. Traumatic time.
	Bruce Hartford:	A Note From the Wilderness.
	Julius Lester:	We Shall Overcome.
	Mike Miller:	Quick Thoughts on the Trump Victory.
	Ron Ridenour:	USA Elections: A Revolutionary View.
	Eugene Turitz:	Some Thoughts.

2016

A Spirit of Power	Harry Boyte
St. Matthews, SC and Fifty-one Years	Lynn Goldsmith Goldberg
To Our Brothers and Sisters of #BlackLivesMatter Movement	SNCC Legacy Project & many Movement veterans
Testimony to the Democratic Platform Committee on Voting as a Constitution Right	Robert (Bob) Moses, SLP, SNCC
Thoughts on Freedom Songs	Penny Patch
Bernie Sanders Photographs	Danny Lyon
Bernie Sanders	Muriel Tillinghast
Five Myths About Reconstruction	Jim Loewen
Are you thinking of Writing Your Civil Rights Memoir?	Maria Gitin
In a Season of Rage, Populist Lessons From The Movement	Harry Boyte
Vernon F. Dahmer: Civil Rights Martyr and American Hero	Joyce Ladner
Howard Zinn: Remembered and Missed	Annette Jones White
Laudato Si', Civic Studies, and the Future of Democracy, ...	Harry Boyte

2015

Memories of Julian	Judy Richardson
Julian Bond Neither Gone Nor Forgotten	Tim Jenkins
Ghettos, Segregation, & Poverty in the 1960s	Bruce Hartford
A Long Hot Summer Ahead?	Maria Gitin
What Would it Look Like? If You Had Criminal & Civil Justice	Michael Wright
The Historical Context of Voting Rights	Bruce Hartford
Letter of Appreciation to the Widow and Family of Claude Sitton ...	Tim Jenkins
Nonviolence & Hypocrisy of U.S. Promoting Democracy Abroad	C.T. Vivian
Selma to Montgomery: But What About SNCC?	Junius Williams
From Hawai'i to Selma	Marsha Rose Joyner
The Way We Were: The SNCC Teenagers Who Changed America	Judy Richardson
Call to Selma, a Review From the Bridge	"Arkansas" Benston
Evaluating the Southern Freedom Movement	Gene Turitz
Anniversary of the February 1st, 1960 Sit-ins	Casey Hayden
Selma the Movie: Thoughts & Comments by Freedom Movement Veterans     Ira Grupper: Some Say it Distorts and is Biased, But Selma Must Be Seen.     Bruce Hartford:   They Got the Heart Right.     Don Jelinek: Selma the Movie.     Marsha Joyner: Selma a 2014 American Historical Epic Drama Movie.     John Lewis: John Lewis tells his truth about Selma.     Danny Lyon: A SNCC Photographer Reviews Selma     Daphne Muse: Initial Ten Responses to Selma.     Diane Nash: LBJ Doesn't Deserve Credit for Selma.     Dennis Roberts: What did I think when I wasn't weeping?
Celebrate the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King	Joseph Ruggerio

2014

We the People (Freedom Summer 50th Commemoration)	Bob Moses
Where Do We Go From Here?	SNCC Legacy Project (re police shootings)
The Real News Network Interviews	Bob Moses
Constitutional People and Slavery by Another Name (Long view racial issues)     Growing Up in Harlem (Mississippi Freedom Summer)     Patriotism and Lynching (World War II)     Founding SNCC and Taking on Mississippi (Amzie Moore & voter registration)     Fannie Lou Hamer and the Racist Dixiecrats (COFO & MFDP)     The Road to Freedom Summer     An Earned Insurgency (The thinking behind Freedom Summer)     "We the People" Force Confronts Democratic Party Leadership in '64 (Convention challenge)
What Did You Learn in School Today?	Mark Levy
My Parents Said Yes!	Chude Allen
Letter to the Family of Charles Sherrod	Courtland Cox
Getting Past the Grand Jury	SNCC Legacy Project
Changing the Culture of Blue-Bigotry	Bruce Hartford
Reading "Ferguson" in Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust	Peter de Lissovoy
Reflections from Bob Moses ... On the Passing of John Doar	Bob Moses
Wilcox Churches: Sanctuaries & Action Centers	Maria Gitin
The Meaning of "Radical"	Bruce Hartford
As Mississippi Moves on, a New Struggle Arises	Ron Carver
Fannie Lou Hamer & the Democratic Party	Marsha Rose Joyner
Mississippi Movement Set Example for Female Leaders	Joyce Ladner
The Missing Word	Bruce Hartford
The Mississippi Summer Project 50th Anniversary Notes ...	Mike Miller
Why I Am Proud of the 1964 Civil Rights Act	Thomas Armstrong
Address to Freedom Summer 50th Commemoration	Julian Bond
In the Mississippi River: Heroes and Sheroes:	Judy Richardson
An Epitaph That Keeps Giving	Tim Jenkins
Union Organizing: Lessons From SNCC Work	Larry Rubin
Remembering John Perdew (1942-2014)	Sam Mahone
Wiping Away the Tears	Heather Gray
The MFDP: 50 years Later a Time for Evaluation	Mike Miller
Courage Was the Key	Bruce Hartford
The Value of Nonviolence Comes First	Ivanhoe Donaldson
Joseph Rauh & the MFDP's Democratic Convention Challenge	Mike Miller

 

2013

My Homage to Mandela's Life	L. Zapata
Thoughts on the Passing of Nelson Mandela	Hunter Bear
African American Women and Jewish Women ...	Yvonne Hilton
Harassment Didn't Stop Civil Rights Work	Corinne Barnwell
A Memory from ... when Viola Liuzzo Was Murdered	Peter de Lissovoy
Memories of the March	Fatima Cortez
Aug. 28, 1963 Was a Day of Joy, Anger and Hope	Joyce Ladner
Homily for the Jonathan Daniel Pilgrimage	Gloria House
Reaction to Supreme Court Overturning VRA	Maria Gitin
Supporting SNCC	Neal Hurwitz
Leo Branton: A Sterling Brown Kind of Strong Man	Daphne Muse
Fifty Years: Remembering Medgar Evers	Hunter Bear
Food for Thought	Maria Gitin
Voting Rights Act: Friend of the Court Brief	VMCRM
The Roots of Poverty	Bruce Hartford
When MLK Thrilled L.A. — and Me	Ellen Broms
Our Week with Rosa Parks...	Daphne Muse

 

2012

On Being a Militant and Radical Organizer...	Hunter Gray
Living With Others: Challenges and Promises	Bob Zellner
Lawrence Guyot's Thoughts	Lawrence Guyot
Political Animals Likely to Confuse History of the CRM	Diane Nash
Thoughts on Port Huron	Bob Zellner
Quilt Story: Black Rural Women, White Urban ...	Linda Beckman

2011

The Intolerable Burden	Connie Curry
The Dark and Poor Must Join OWS!	Curtis Muhammad
Another Account of the Second Freedom Summer	Jo Freeman
Schools to Prison Pipeline, Today's Civil Rights Issue	Connie Curry
Fred Shuttlesworth: Civil Rights Lion	Charlie Cobb
Doing the Right Thing	Robert & Helen Singleton
You Came Here to Die, Didn't You?	Jo Freeman
My Country, My Mother, and Me	Helen Singleton
The People's Revolution Does Not Seek to Lead Nations	Curtis Muhammad
Thoughts on The Help Book & Movie     Joyce Ladner No thanks Kathryn Stockett, I don't want to be "The Help"     Casey Hayden The Help the Movie     Ruby Sales The Help     Theresa El-Amin   The Help     Penny Patch The Help

2010

SNCC Truth Telling Time: People of the Day Before Yesterday Reach Out to People of the Day After Tomorrow	Tim Jenkins
Might you know where I can find a rehab center for my country?	Daphne Muse
Freedom is not Free: The Meridian Movement of the Mid-60s	Smith & Morse
Learning from the Long Civil Rights Movement's First Generation	Virginia Durr, Sue Thrasher
I Owe a Debt of Gratitude to the Civil Rights Movement	Daphne Muse
Clyde Kennard	Ron Hollander
Statement on Mississippi Freedom Ride 50th ...	[Group]
SNCC at 50	Charlie Cobb
In the Attics of My Mind	Casey Hayden
SNCC & Today's Education Struggle	Bruce Hartford
Review of The Great Pool Jump: & Other Stories ... SW Georgia	Stephen Saltonstall
SNCC, Fifty Years Later	Marian Wright Edelman
SNCC's Legacy	Curtis Muhammad
Letter to Young Radicals	Curtis Muhammad

2009

Generational Narrative by a Black Woman on ... Senator Edward Kennedy

Ruby Sales

2008

The Legacy of J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Raising Hell in the South	Heather Gray
Long Time Coming (Election of Obama)	Wally Roberts
21 Months (Election of Obama)	Helen Singleton
Activists and Activism	Bruce Hartford
That Darned "Why did you..." Question	Bruce Hartford
"Atlantic City Revisited" — Mondale & "The Movement"	Mike Miller
The Importance of SNCC (A Discussion)	[Freedom Movement Veterans]

2007

Reclaiming the Second Reconstruction	Jack O'Dell
Leadership: Freedom Movement vs New Left	Bruce Hartford
SNCC, Black Power & Black Nationalism	Mike Miller
Constitutional People, U.S. Senate testimony	Bob Moses

2006

2005

Hurricane Katrina (Multiple pieces)	[Freedom Movement Veterans]
Democracy Charter	Jack O'Dell
Why Struggle? Why Care?	Chude Allen
The FBI's Mississippi Myopia	Ron Carver
Veterans Statement, "Eyes on the Prize"	[Freedom Movement Veterans]
Adopt A Racist Boor For MLK Day	Benjamin Greenberg
Georgia's Fraudulent Anti-Fraud Legislation	Julian Bond
Against Discouragement	Howard Zinn
In Memory of Dr. King — A Winter Soldier	Bruce Hartford

2004

Bona Fide Community Organizing: Core Dimensions	Hunter Bear
Religion and the 2004 Election	Sales & Hartford
Chaney, Schwerner, Goodman 40th Memorial    Donna Ladd: Jackson Free Press: I Felt the Earth Move    Jim Benston: Letter from "Arkansas" (AKA "Strider")    Ira Grupper:The 40th Neshoba Memorial    David Kendall:Statement of David Kendall    David Kotz:Statement of David Kotz    Wallace Roberts: Highways to Nowhere    Alan Schiffmann:Statement of Alan Schiffmann    Andrew Sheldon: Statement of Andrew Sheldon    Ira Grupper: Problems With the 40th Neshoba Memorial    Jared Story: Misrepresentation and Mischaracterization

2003

A Black Man Fights the Draft	Michael Simmons
Say These Words With Me	Moses & Ladd

2002

Justice for Jamil (H. Rap Brown)

[Freedom Movement Veterans]

2001

My Reflections of Years Gone By

Charles Person

2000

Conflicting Memories of the ... Albany Movement	Joan Browning
Review of Walking With the Wind	Mike Miller
Renewing the Beloved Community (Walking Wounded project)	Mike Miller

1990s

What the Civil Rights Movement Proved	Howard Zinn, 1994
On Time in Mississippi, 1964-1994	Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez, 1994
Beloved Community, Mississippi Revisited	Susan Moon, 1994
Mississippi Stories I & II	Bell Gale Chivigny, 1994
Mississippi Movement Memories	Mike Miller, 1991

1980s

A Pebble Thrown into the Pond	Glenn Smiley, 1989
Those Who Were Not There: the Cold War Against the Civil Rights Movement	Anne Braden, 1989
Mississippi Burning	Judy Richardson, 1989
Mississippi Smoldering	Jim Kates, 1988
Letter to the Editor (re Mississippi Burning movie)	Carol Hanisch, 1989
SNCC: How They Stood	Martha Prescod, 1988

1970s

Address to Ella Baker 75th Birthday Celebration	Bob Moses, 1978
Some Thoughts About Music	Annette Jones White (1962)

See also:

History & Timeline: 1951-1968 — Descriptions of Movement events.

Our Words — Articles & speeches by Movement veterans written at the time.

Letters & Reports From the Field — By Movement veterans.

Documents — Movement publications, reports, materials, strategy, etc.

Photo Album — Movement photos, posters, etc.

Our Stories — Memories, narratives & interviews of Movement veterans.

Our Thoughts — Analyses and commentaries by Movement veterans.

Discussions — Transcripts of group discussions by veterans.

© Copyright
Webspinner: webmaster@crmvet.org
(Labor donated)