This summer marks the 55th anniversary of Freedom Summer, a campaign aimed at dramatically increasing voter registration in Mississippi. For ten weeks, more than 1000 student volunteers from around the country joined local organizers to set up dozens of Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers in small towns throughout the state. They faced abuse and constant harassment from Mississippi's white population, culminating in a series of violent attacks, false arrests, and the murder of at least three civil rights activists.
To learn more about Freedom Summer and the murder of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, try the following resources:
In addition, all of my posts about civil rights can be found here.
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On this day in 1963, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was gunned down in his driveway just hours after President John F. Kennedy's nationally televised speech supporting civil rights. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where he received full military honors before a crowd of more than 3,000 onlookers.
For more information about Medgar Evers, try the following resources:
All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here.
On this day in 1963, Governor George Wallace blocked the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise to stop the desegregation of the state's only remaining all-white university.
To learn more about George Wallace and his stand in the schoolhouse door, try the following resources:
All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here.
Fifty-four years ago today, nine African American students made their first attempt to enter Little Rock's Central High School. They were met by an angry mob and were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard, acting on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. One of the students, Elizabeth Eckford (then 15), later recalled that "they moved closer and closer...Somebody started yelling...I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd — someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me."
The students did not successfully enter the school until September 25, when President Dwight Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730 which federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered the Army’s 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock. They remained under federal protection for the rest of the year. To learn more the Little Rock Nine, try the following resources:
All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here. Today marks the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington during which Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. It was estimated that between 200,000 - 300,000 participants crowded into the area between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in support of civil and economic rights for African Americans. In addition to King, the day's speakers included John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young with performances by Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Marian Anderson. The March is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).
To learn more about the March on Washington & the Civil Rights Movement, try the following resources:
All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here.
To learn more about the 14th Amendment & Reconstruction, try the following resources:
All of my posts on Civil Rights can be found here. All of my posts about Reconstruction can be found here. |