CRMA
Civil Rights Movement Archive
Monthly Newsletter
September 1st, 2025
Table of Contents
News
Our Sister Sites
Announcements
Website Report
Top Ten Most Viewed
New CRMA Video & Audio
New Movement Documents
New Letters & Reports
New Stories & Narratives
New Articles & Speeches
New Thoughts & Commentaries
New Discussions
New Poems
New Photos, Art, & Posters
Recent Books
News
In previous newsletters we've reported on the MAGA Regime's rapidly escalating
assault on our history, values, and democracy itself. But their
thought-suppression campaign is not the only threat we face. Though less
well-known, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology combined with corporate
greed also pose serious new challenges.
Today, most people obtain most of their information online from a
corporate-dominated global "infosphere" where AI is rapidly expanding.
AI applications produce responses based on the information they are given to
work with. That information is overwhelmingly from commercial, government,
academic, and mainstream-media sources. Inevitably then, AI summaries,
articles, reports, and other output tend to reflect what Julian Bond once
referred to as the, "Master Narrative" of the Civil Rights
Movement — and by extension all progressive, popular,
social struggles.
Until recently, students, researchers and the general public used search
engines to provide lists of information sources. Now, more and more they are
simply relying on some kind of AI summary. New data shows that 50% of all
Google searches now result in Zero Clicks on links to web pages because
users simply accept what the AI feeds them and look no deeper. It seems likely
to us that this trend may significantly reduce the number of visitors using
this CRMA website which was (and still is) built to provide our alternative to
the Master Narrative.
Google (Alphabet), Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and the other
online behemoths once promoted themselves as gateways to our collective
memory. Now they are increasingly acting as gate-keepers who determine what
information users can actually find. And also what information is entirely
unfindable at all because they decide what to
index — and that which they choose not to index cannot be
found no matter how sophisticated your query.
More and more, Big-Tech is prioritizing search results that lead users to
their own internal, ad-saturated videos, news, maps, shopping, travel, and
other services. In effect, they are creating corporate walled-gardens instead
of what they once touted as the, "information super-highway." In
earlier eras, Spain, England, France, and the U.S. colonized the globe,
capturing nations, restricting their trade, controlling education systems, and
shaping entire cultures for their own benefit. Now it seems as if the
trans-national technology titans are colonizing the digital infosphere into
competing online spheres of influence and domination.
Obviously, this does not fill us with enthusiasm. We remain committed to
freely-providing to everyone an up-from-below, inside-out, and
lives-lived, perspective on the Civil Rights and other freedom and
social-justice movements that shaped — and continue to
shape — American history and culture to this day. To that end,
we of the Civil Rights Movement Archive and our Sister organizations are collaborating together to build a
Movement
History Initiative (MHI) that will preserve, expand, and freely provide an
information alternative.
Please Donate.
With a Little Help From Our Friends,
We'll keep on keeping on.
Ever since we established the CRMA (originally known as "CRMVet") in 1999, it
has been almost entirely funded by personal donations from Freedom Movement
veterans and individual supporters. We carry on this work with almost zero
institutional support, foundation grants, or philanthropic contributions. So
if you find our CRMA site useful and worthy, please click
donate to keep us alive and growing.
You can donate via check, your bank's Bill Pay service, or
PayPal. Thank you for anything you are able to contribute.
Our Sister Sites
 |
SNCC Legacy Project (SLP). SLP preserves and extends SNCC's legacy.
Although SNCC the organization no longer exists, we believe that its legacy continues and needs to be brought forward in ways that continue the struggle for freedom, justice and equality today. |
 |
SNCC Digital Gateway (SDG). A joint project of SLP and Duke University,
SDG tells the story of how young activists in SNCC united with local people in the South to build a grassroots movement for change that empowered the Black community and transformed the nation. |
 |
Black Power Chronicles. The SNCC Legacy Project created the Black Power Chronicles (BPC) in 2015
to help fill the informational void that exists in our historical record about the impact of the Black Power Movement in local communities throughout America. |
 |
SCOPE 50. Preserving Civil Rights and the Story of Voting. Website of SCLC/SCOPE project activists. |
 |
Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. Empowering the next generation, passing it on to carry it on
by preserving the history of the Mississippi Movement. |
 |
Movement History Initiative. Telling the Civil Rights and other social-justice stories from the ground up and the inside out. A
collaboration among veterans of the Freedom Movement of the 1950-1906s and today's activists and grassroots organizations. |
 |
Teaching for Change and
Zinn Education Project.
Provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world by promoting and supporting the teaching of people's history in middle and high
school classrooms across the country. |
Announcements
Borrowed Land,
Stolen Labor, and the Holy Spirit: The Struggle for Power and Equality in
Holmes County, Mississippi, by Diane T. Feldman. University Press of
Mississippi. 2025. Chronicles the profound history of a low-income county that
became a pivotal site for Delta organizing during the Civil Rights
Fovement.
From Protest to Power Podcasts . SNCC Legacy
Project (SLP). The central theme of these visual podcasts is the ongoing
effort of the Black community to achieve the power to define its existence in
America.
Movement Art: If you are aware of any works of art related to the
Freedom Movement such as paintings, drawings, murals, statues, and so on,
please take a look at our Civil
Rights Movement Art page to see if we already have an image of it in our
collection. If it isn't included in our collection please email us an image we
can post, or a weblink, or some other information that we can use. Thanks.
Movement Materials: Please continue to email to us documents, letters,
reports, stories, and other Southern Freedom Movement materials from the
period 1950-1970. See Submissions details.
Website Report
As of September 1st, our online archive contained 11,467 viewable pages,
documents, images, and recordings, 486 videos in our Vimeo video channel, and
listings for 696 Freedom Movement veterans.
According to Google, there were 14,432 visits to the CRMA website during
August. This low overall number reflects our traditional summer-doldrums when
most U.S. schools are out of session.
Roughly 30% of our visitors came from outside the U.S. in August. On average
over the course of a year, international users make up 15%-20% of our users.
We are proud that our Freedom Movement of the 1960s is still of interest to
people around the world and that our site still stands as a free, publicly-
available, un-censored international information resource.
Top Ten Most Viewed
According to Google, here are the top-ten, most-visited sections and
individual pages in August.
(Note that Google does not count how often PDF files are accessed. Since most
of our documents are in PDF format, the "Top Ten" lists are not all that
accurate.)
Sections, Landing & Reference Pages
- Voting Rights and Literacy Tests
- Site Search: Civil Rights Movement Archive
- Freedom Movement Bibliography
- Freedom Movement Photo Album
- Civil Rights Movement History 1950-1970
- Roll Call of Freedom Movement Veterans
- Freedom Movement Videos
- Civil Rights Movement Web Links
- About the Civil Rights Movement Archive
- Poems of the Civil Rights Movement
Individual Pages & Documents
- Civil Rights Movement History: Mississippi Freedom Summer
- An Appeal For Human Rights (Atlanta Student Movement) (1960)
- Alabama Voter Literacy Test
- Civil Rights Movement History: 1960 (student sit-ins)
- No thanks Kathryn Stockett, I don't want to be "The Help", Bruce Hartford (2015)
- Louisiana Voter Application and Literacy Tests
- Poems of Langston Hughes
- Civil Rights Movement History: 1961 (Freedom Rides, MS voter registration, Albany GA)
- Documents From the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Poem: Ain't I A Woman? Sojourner Truth
Top Ten Sections & Pages That Others on the Internet Link To
Google reports that out on the global internet there are 20,289 backlinks to
materials on our site by people, organizations, grade-schools, and
universities using us as a trusted information resource. The Top-Ten linked to
pages are:
- Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR)
- The Other America, Dr. Martin Luther King. (1967)
- Are You "Qualified" to Vote?—Literacy Tests & Voter Applications
- Public Opinion Polls on Civil Rights Movement activities, 1961-1969
- Nonviolence, Self-Defense & Provocateurs
- Civil Rights Movement History: 1961 (Freedom Rides, MS voter registration, Albany GA)
- Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story Comic Book. (Fellowship of Reconciliation)
- The Louisiana Story 1963, James Farmer (CORE)
- Civil Rights Movement History: 1960 (student sit-ins)
- Civil Rights Movement History: 1963 Jan-June (Birmingham, Greenwod, Danville)
| 1959 | Race and Conscience in America AFSC. 60 page pamphlet. |
| 1959 | Minutes of National Action Committee Luncheon, CORE. 11/12/59. |
| 1959 | Minutes of National Action Committee, CORE. 12/15/59. |
| 1959 | Memo on new chapter affiliations, James Robinson, CORE. 12/23/59. |
| 1963 | Report on Canton Mississippi (voter registration campaign). David Dennis, CORE. June-August 1963. 9 pages. |
| 1964 | Madison County (MS) economic research. Unsigned CORE. Undated (possibly 1964). 6 pages. |
| 1964 | A Report From the South SCEF. 4 pages. |
| 1964 | List: members of Congress (presumed sympathetic?). Unsigned (possibly SNCC). Undated (presumed 1964). |
| 1964 | The Canton Story COFO Publication #7, compilation of reports from Madison Co. MS. March 1964. 12 page. |
| 1964 | Anti-Negro laws & resolutions recently enacted. Unsigned (possibly COFO). March 1964. 3 pages. |
| 1964 | Confidential Report: Freedom Day, Leflore County MS. proposal. Unsigned (SNCC? COFO?), 3/16/64. 4 pages. |
| 1964 | List of summer volunteers by state. Unsigned COFO. Undated (presumed July 1964). 28 pages. |
| 1964 | Communications Directory -- Mississippi. Unsigned COFO/SNCC. Undated summer 1964. |
| 1964 | Memo: to Communications Workers, Project Directors, re bulk deliveries of Student Voice. SNCC Communications Dept. 7/4/64. |
| 1964 | Press Directory (Mississippi). Unsigned SNCC. 7/15/64. |
| 1964 | Press Regisistration, MFDP convention (handwritten). 8/6/64 |
| 1964 | Constitution of the Young Democrat Clubs of Mississippi. Unsigned YDCM, 8/9/64. |
| 1964 | Madison County Freedom Fund loan agreement letter. Unsigned COFO and others. 9/12/64. Page(s) missing. |
| 1965 | CORE Budget Memo George Wiley, CORE. 10/6/65. |
| c1965 | The Philosophy Of Nonviolence and the Tactic Of Nonviolent Resistance. Unsigned SCLC. 6 pages. |
| 1965 | Stop the Beatings! Hattiesburg MS flyer. Unsigned. Undated (possibly 1964 or 1965). |
| 1965 | Items on Current Politics in Mississippi, flyer promoting book by R. Hunter Morey. Unsigned COFO. Undated. |
| 1965 | Sections of the Constitution of the Young Democratic Clubs of America. Unsigned. Undated (probably 1965). 20 pages. |
| 1965 | Yound Democratic Clubs of Mississippi news. Unsigned. April 1965. |
| 1966 | Letter to Victoria Gray welcoming her into Board of Directors SCEF. 4/9/66 |
| 1968 | SCEF News ~ May 28, 1968 SCEF. 5/24/68. 2 pages (pages missing). |
| 1968 | Urgent Action Memo re H. Rap Brown gun trial in New Orleans. H. Rap Brown Defense Cmt. 5/9/68 |
WATS & Phone Reports (Log of daily phone-in reports)
SNCC May 13, 1964. Clifford Vaughs, re protest marches, trials, violence and National Guard troops, Cambridge MD.
SNCC, May 11, 1964. Enfield NC, Cambridge MD, Hattiesburg MS, Louisiana.
SNCC, May 12, 1964. Hattiesburg MS court cases, Detroit MI legal conf, Cambridge MD police attack on protesters
SNCC, May 12, 1964. Cambridge MD. Police attack on protesters, tear gassing, arrests, National Guard, Stokeley Carmichael
SNCC, May 13, 1964. Cambridge MD protests, gassing, injuries, arrests, Gloria Richardson, John Lewis. Nashville TN march.
SNCC, May 13, 1964. Clifford Vaughs, re protest marches, trials, violence and National Guard troops, Cambridge MD.
SNCC, May 14, 1964. Nashville TN protests, arrests, beatings.
SNCC, May 14, 1964. Cambridge MD protest. Camden AL white racist attack on white ministers. Selma AL election results.
SNCC, May 14, 1964. Cambridge MD nighttime confrontation with National Guard
SNCC, May 15, 1964. Repot on white ministers beaten in Camdin AL. Arrests of COFO workers in Belzoni MS.
SNCC, May 18, 1964. Washington DC "Compromise" civil rights bill in the Senate.
Vietnam War, Military Draft, & GI Movement Documents
New Letters & Reports From Mississippi Freedom Summer
Black Power Chronicles Interviews & Presentations
Dr. Acklyn Lynch, interviewed by Kay Brisbane. Howard Univ, Washington DC, Marion Barry, SNCC. 2018. 27 pages.
Anthony Gittens, interviewed by Jocelyn Imani. Howard Univ, student activism, "Black University," Drum and Spear. 2017. 35 pages.
Bob Brown, interviewed by Joshua Myers. Segregation, Emmett Till, Chicago, Democratic Party, Black visibility, Kwame Nkrumah, Pan-African movement. Undated. 28 pages.
Courtland Cox, interviewed by Kwame Holman. SNCC, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Black Power background and history, protests vs political organizing, Marion Barry. 2017. 17 pages.
Dorie Ladner, interviewed by Jocelyn Imani. Hattiesburg MS, Emmett Till, NAACP, SNCC, Medgar Evers, March on Washington, Black Power movements. 2017. 23 pages.
E. Ethelbert Miller, Thoughts on Black Power. Ron Karenga, Dr. Stephen Henderson, Black art, impact of political eventsHoward Univ, Malcolm X, complexity of identity, Audre Lorde. Black Lives Matter, poetry,
critical scholarship. 2016. 34 pages.
Affidavits of Repression, Retaliation & Violence
Updated and enhanced SNCC Conference transcripts:
SNCC 40th #1: Conference welcome and remembrance of Ms. Ella Baker
SNCC 40th #2: Remembrance of Ms. Ella Baker, continued
SNCC 40th #3: Ella Baker discussion continued and general discussion
SNCC 40th #4: Workshop discussing strategies and tactics of organizing
SNCC 40th #5: The role of struggle in the development of a democratic society
SNCC 40th #6: Remembrances of the first meeting organizing SNCC
SNCC 40th #7: Remembrance of Ms. Ella Baker by Ann Braden
SNCC 40th #8 ~ Ms. Ella Baker's role in the founding of SNCC
SNCC 40th #9 ~ Chuck McDew's remembrances; Ella Baker as mentor (Ladner)
SNCC 40th #10 and #11 ~ Installation of a historic marker for SNCC in Raleigh, NC
SNCC 40th #12 ~ The legacy of Ms. Ella Baker,
SNCC 40th #13 ~ Welcoming remarks; history of SNCC
SNCC 40th #14 ~ Baker award: The Algebra Project; Jamil Al-Amin
SNCC 40th #15 ~ Workshop on strategies and tactics for organizing
SNCC 40th #16 ~ The Importance of Building Alliances
No new poems added this month.
Freedom Movement Art
Recent Books by or About Movement Veterans:
Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement.
Atria/One Signal Publishers (Simon & Schuster) March 2025. The little known
story of how four activists in the 1950s created and built a semi-clandestine
network of Citizenship Schools across the Jim Crow South. A network that
formed a foundation for the Freedom Movement's voting rights battles of the
1960s. Septima Clark, Esau Jenkins, Bernice Robinson, and Myles Horton of the
Highlander Center.
Mississippi's Black Cotton.
By MacArthur Cotton and John Obee, foreword by Nikole Hannah-Jones. University
of Georgia Press. May 1, 2025. A personal history of the 1960's Mississippi
Civil Rights Movement by SNCC Field Secretary MacArthur Cotton, who lived it.
If Anybody Should Ask
You ... This Is What Happened: A Memoir, by Gwendolyn J. Dennis-Mack.
2024. The personal story of an African American high school girl who joined
the movement of young people to desegregate American classrooms in Deep South
Georgia.
More Voices
of Civil Rights Lawyers: Continuing the Struggle, by Kent Spriggs.
Stories and descriptions by 23 Civil Rights Lawyers about their struggles to
advance and maintain human rights in the United States South.
Putting
the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching, Second Edition. By
Menkart, Murray, and View. 2024. Lessons, quizzes, images, essays, articles,
primary source documents, and poetry, to help teachers go beyond a "heroes and
holidays" approach to teaching about the Freedom Movement in K-12 classrooms.
The focus is on people of color, women, youth, organizing, culture,
institutional racism, and the interconnectedness of social
movements — Desegregation of Public Spaces, Voting Rights,
Black Power, Labor and Land, Transnational Solidarity, and Student
Engagement.
Unlawfully Incarcerated At Age Thirteen, by Emmarene Kaigler Streeter,
2024. Personal story of one the "Stolen Girls of the
Lee County Stockade
arrested in Americus GA, and imprisoned in 1963.
Marching in Montgomery, by John J. Hartman. IPBooks. 2024.
First-hand account by a participant of the March 1965 voting rights protests
in Montgomery Alabama in support of the movement in Selma AL.
Ma Lineal: A Memoir of Race, Activism, and Queer Family, by Faith
Holsaert. Memoir of NYC childhood, SNCC in Southwest Georgia, and raising her
own children in the coalfields of West Virginia.
The Rise and Fall of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, by
Martin Oppenheimer. Native Publishers, 2024. Concise history including the
historical antecedents, the Greensboro sit-ins, Freedom Summer, the violence
of KKK and police, and its demise around 1973.
As always comments, suggestions, corrections, and submissions from Freedom
Movement activists are welcome. Veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement who
are listed on the website's Roll Call are encouraged to contribute to the
website their stories, thoughts, documents, and memories & tributes of those
who have passed on by emailing them in to us.
If you're not already a subscriber to the monthly email version of this
newsletter, send us your email address and let us know you'd like to be added
to the list. To unsubscribe (heaven forfend!) do the same.
— Bruce Hartford
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