Articles & Speeches
by Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Freedom Summer, 1964

Photos

[Terminology:

In the articles below, various authors use either "Summer Project," or "Freedom Summer," or both interchangeably. This website uses "Mississippi Summer Project" to refer to the effort organized and led by COFO/SNCC, and "Freedom Summer" to refer to the totality of efforts in Mississippi over the summer of 1964, including the Summer Project along with the efforts of organizations such as Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR), National Council of Churches (NCC) and other religious groups, National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), and the various legal support operations such as the ACLU, National Lawyers Guild (NLG), NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Lawyer's Constitutional Defense Committee (LCDC) and so on.

In most of these articles, the term "volunteer" refers to people from out of state — Black and white — who came to Mississippi for Freedom Summer. The many, many thousands of Afro-American Mississippians who participated were also unpaid volunteers and but they are usually refered to as "local."]

Contents:

Articles From CRMVets History & Timeline
Articles by Freedom Movement Veterans
Personal Memories of Freedom Summer
Remembrances of Freedom School Students

Mississippi 1964: Articles From CRMVets History & Timeline

Freedom Day in Hattiesburg (Jan)
Louis Allen Murdered (Jan)
Freedom Day in Canton (Feb)
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Founded (April)
Freedom Summer (June-August)
Freedom Summer 1964 [PDF]
Mississippi Summer Project (June-Aug)
        [Sidebar] Organizational Stucture of Freedom Summer
Lynching of Chaney, Schwerner, & Goodman
Freedom Schools
Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) Founded
The McGhees of Greenwood
McComb — Breaking the Klan Seige
MFDP Challenge to Democratic Convention
Wednesdays in Mississippi
Delta Ministry Founded in Mississippi (Sept)
MFDP Congressional Challenge (Nov '64-Sept '65)
ASCS Elections — A Struggle for Economic Survival (Dec)
MFDP Challenge to the Democratic Convention

Articles by Freedom Movement Veterans & Supporters

Some Notes on Education, Charles Cobb, SNCC.
Tired of Being Sick and Tired, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. The Nation, June 1, 1964. (SNCC reprint)
Long Hot Summer in Mississippi & Letter From the South, Kitty Baker, WILPF. July 1964.
The Southern Front: 2 Weeks in Mississippi, Bell Gale (Jackson). (Village Voice)
Freedom Day in Cleveland MS, Wally Roberts. July, 1964
Violence in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. August 1964
Mission in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. (Hattiesburg Ministers Project). Draft. 8/19/64
Freedom Schools Open a Door to the World, Joanne Grant. National Guardian. August 29, 1964
All My Days, Wally Roberts. July, 1964
Freedom Summer sermon, Rev. Bruce Hanson, SNCC. August 2, 1964
SNCC: Collegians vs The Klan, Jerry DeMuth. Rogue Magazine, August 1964
Mississippi at Atlantic City Charles Sherrod, SNCC. August 1964
Mimeo version, Reprint version,
Letter From Jackson re Freedom Summer, Calvin Trillin, New Yorker. August 29, 1964
The Cat and Mouse Game, Elizabeth Sutherland (Betita Martinez), SNCC (reprint from The Nation, Sept 1964)
A Parent Looks Beyond The Summer, William Mandel. (Campus CORE-Lator)
The Mississippi Summer Project and the Closed Society, Joe White. (Campus CORE-Lator)
Summer in Mississippi, Jerry DeMuth, SNCC. Nation magazine. September 14 1964
Bob Moses Speech to National Guardian Dinner, November.
Deeper Than Politics, Mississippi Freedom Schools, Liz Fusco, Freedom School coordinator. Liberation, November 1964
Journey to Understanding: Four Witnesses to a Mississippi Summer, Nation. December 1964
     "Introduction," Howard Zinn
     "The Lawyer," William M. Kunstler
     "The Minister," Beverly Allen Asbury
     "The Educator," Richard J. Bernstein
Tremor in the Iceberg: The Mississippi Summer, Eric Morton. (Freedomways)
Life in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer. (Freedomways.)
Freedom Schools Concept and Organization, Staughton Lynd. (Freedomways.)
The Free Speech Movement and the Negro Revolution (52 page pamphlet), Mario Savio, Eugene Walker, Raya Dunayevskaya, Bob Moses. July 1965
Mississippi 1964, Jo Ann Ooiman Robinson. (Fellowship), June 1989
Mississippi Musings: Freedom Summer Revisited, Mike Miller (Social Policy, Fall 1994)

Personal Memories of Freedom Summer

In the summer of 1964 close to a thousand volunteers came to Mississippi in support of the Movement. They worked on projects across the state. Led by SNCC and CORE field secretaries, they helped Afro-Americans try to register to vote and join the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), they taught in Freedom Schools, participated in community organizing, and endured the danger and hardship of civil rights work in the Deep South.

Most of the SNCC, CORE, and SCLC staff who led the volunteers were African American
Most of the volunteers — but certainly not all — were college students or recent grads.
Most of the volunteers  — but certainly not all — were from the North.
Most of the volunteers — but certainly not all — were white.

They were warned of the danger they would face — but they came anyway. Three were murdered by racist police and Klan, others were beaten, abused, and jailed. These are their stories:

Together, they were a living witness of solidarity with the courageous communities of Mississippi who were demanding freedom and equality for all.

Sandra Adickes History Lessons in Hattiesburg
George Albertz Tells His Experiences as a Freedom Summer volunteer
Chude Pam Parker Allen   My Parents Said Yes!"
Why I Am Going to Mississippi
Would You Marry One?
Loneliness in the Circle of Trust
Watching the Iris Grow
David Bailin Mississippi Summer Project Diary, August 1964
Corinne Freeman Barnwell    Mass Meetings & New Orlans Freedom School
My Freedom School Experiences — Mississippi & New Orleans
Heather Booth Memories From Shaw, Especially of the Hawkins Family
Jennie Nancy Dishotsky Memories of the Freedom Summer Project
Karen Duncan Remembrances of Mississippi Summer 1964
Gail Falk Remembering Freedom Summer
Robert C. Hargreaves Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964
James Kates June & August, 1964
Adam Kline Greenwood Mississippi
Charles Leck Riding on the Spirit of New Orleans
Karol Nelson McMahan Fighting for Freedom in the Mississippi Sun
William Myers Mississippi Diary
Martin Nicolaus Mississippi Winter 1964-65
Fran O'Brien Faith and Activism
Ron Ridenour Freedom Summer Orientation
On the Road to Freedom
Personal Diary, Moss Point Mississippi:
Wally Roberts Sheriff Capps & the Shaw Freedom School
Larry Rubin A Walk in Holly Springs: 1964
Jonathan Steele Summer of Hate
Roy Torkington Itta Bena and Elsewhere
Bob Weil A Faulkner Tale
Mark Weiss Interview
Bright Winn Mrs. Magruder
Grenville Whitman Mississippi Summer 1964

If you were a volunteer, send us your story for posting here. You can email photocopies to: webmaster@crmvet.org.

Remembrances of Freedom School Students

Jacqulyn Reed Cockfield
Zellie Rainey Orr
Emily Rembert

If you were a Freedom School student, send us your remembrance for posting here. You can email it to: webmaster@crmvet.org.

See also:

Documents From Freedom Summer
Letters From Mississippi Freedom Summer
Mississippi ~ Into the Storm (Articles 1955-1963)
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) (Articles)
McComb Mississippi Incidents & Events
Mississippi Movement web links
Freedom Summer Web Links
Mississippi Movement for books.

See also:
     Letters & Reports From Mississippi Freedom Summer
     Summer Project Documents
     Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Documents
     Freedom Summer Press Releases
     MFDP Articles by Movement Veterans


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