In January of 1964, SNCC asked the Commission on Religion and Race (CORR) of the National Council of Churches to recruit northern ministers to participate in the first Hattiesburg Freedom Day, January 22, 1964. Their hope was that — as was the case Selma's Freedom Day the previous October — the presence of mostly white clergy would draw national media attention and both prevent police repression and pressure the federal government to enforce voting rights court rulings.The tactic proved so successful that a "Ministers Project" was initiated to cycle clergy and laymen through Hattiesburg to bear witness in support of the Freedom Movement. Northern ministers, rabbis, deacons, seminary students, and others mobilized through religious institutions, picketed the courthouse, attended mass meetings, and helped canvas for voter registration — some for a few days, some for a longer period. The project expanded during Freedom Summer, and then in the Fall evolved into an ongoing organization called the Delta Ministry.
For more information, see:
Freedom Day in Hattiesburg (Jan '65)
Mississippi Summer Project
Delta Ministry Founded in Mississippi (Sept '64)
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