Freedom Summer Anniversary

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:

• ​Background on Freedom Summer (National Museum of American History)
• Ending 50 Years of Silence about Mississippi's Freedom Summer (The Atlantic)
• Freedom Summer (History Channel)
• Freedom Summer (American Experience)
• Freedom Summer: 50 Years Later (The Clarion-Ledger)
• 'Freedom Summer' 2014: Column (USA Today)
• Mississippi Marks 50 Years Since History-Changing 'Freedom Summer' (NPR)
• Retracing a Summer of Terror--And Freedom (CNN)
• The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project (CBS News)

In addition, all of my posts about civil rights can be found here.