Freedom Summer: A Brief History with Documents

By: John Dittmer and Jeff Kolnick and Leslie Burl Mclemore

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Synopsis: In the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, a coalition of civil rights organizations spread out into black communities across the state to organize a grassroots voter registration movement, challenging the Jim Crow system of segregation and all it stood for. This title highlights the role of black Mississippians who were at the heart of Freedom Summer, including the local women who assumed key leadership positions. The Introduction provides a narrative account that begins with a brief history of the civil rights movement in Mississippi and then examines the recruitment of the summer volunteers, their training, and their deployment throughout the state. The documents, arranged in thematic and roughly chronological chapters, allow students to sift through the evolution of Freedom Summer through speeches, letters, reports, and activist training documents. Document headnotes, a map and images, a chronology, questions to consider, and a bibliography enrich students' understanding of Freedom Summer.