Freedom Summer
"Before the Negro people get the right to vote, there will have to be a massive confrontation, and it will probably come this summer.....We are going to Mississippi full force"
- Congressman John Lewis ,1964
- Congressman John Lewis ,1964
Mississippi was specifically chosen as the site for Freedom Summer to bring attention to its longstanding discriminatory practices. However, the project failed to enfranchise many African-Americans due to voter intimidation.
Goals of Freedom Summer
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"What we have discovered is that the people who run Mississippi...can only do so by force...They cannot allow free elections, because if they did, they wouldn't run Mississippi"
- Allard Lowenstein, Freedom Ballot Organizer Source: "Eyes on the Prize"
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"...the goal of the Freedom Summer of 1964 was the freeing of the minds of blacks to the point that you no longer had these kinds of negatives about yourself with regard to your white brother. It was a psychological kind of engagement; that blacks began to look upon themselves as somebody."
- Aaron Henry, Mississippi NAACP President  Source: Freedom Summer Brochure, 1964
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Actions Taken
Voter Registration |
Freedom Schools |
Community Center |
Source: Mississippi Freedom Summer COFO Brochure
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"People were threatened, folks were put in jail just because we wanted people to try to register to vote."
- Unita Blackwell, voter registration worker