Sample Pages
Political Education Primer
Lowndes County Freedom Organization
1966

In May of 1966, Alabama held elections for county offices. These were the first elections since passage of the Voting Rights Act eight months earler in August of 1965, and for the first time since Reconstruction Blacks were eligible to vote in significant numbers.

81% of Lowndes County citizens were Black, but until SNCC freedom fighters began organizing there in 1965, no Blacks were registered at all (white registration was 118%). The limited education provided by the segregated Black schools did not include civics, government, the Constitution, or other subjects that the white school board considered irrelevant for Blacks.

When the newly-formed Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) ran candidates for county offices in the May elections, they had to teach new voters what the offices were, what they did, and why they were important. Since the so-called "separate-but-equal" segregated school system ensured that many Blacks had limited ability to read, the LCFO created a 28-page illustrated Political Education Primer in "comics" format. (Click here to view some sample pages.)

These sample pages of the LCFO Political Primer were provided by SNCC organizer Dr. Gwen Patton, now of Trenholm State College. She describes the primer as follows:

It was written in 1966 and by the local Black folks in Lowndes County, Alabama and by SNCC organizers on the occasion of the first Black independent party since Reconstruction, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization with the Black Panther as its symbol. Many of the Lowndes County people who voted for the first time in their lives wanted to vote for their people. The candidates were Mr. Sidney Logan for sheriff, Mr. Frank Miles for Tax Collector, Mrs. Alice Moore for Tax Assessor, Emory Ross for Coroner, Mr. Hinson. Mr. Robert Logan and Mrs. Strickland for Board of Education members (3 slots were opened).

One of my first articles ever published [described] the Lowndes County Election Fraud whereby the minority whites stole the election and forced the rural Black people off the land.

[SNCC], spearheaded by Jim Foreman, procured tents. The people for a year were forced to live in the harsh weather in tents with no running water or plumbing. This epoch in our Civil/Voting Rights Movement became known as "Tent City." There is now an Interpretative Center in Lowndes County that depicts this history. The Center is under the auspices of the National Park Service.

 — Copyright © Dr. Gwendolyn Patton

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