Station 1: The Project

The Freedom Summer was a nonviolent effort by civil rights activists to integrate 's segregated political system during 1964.

Planning began late in 1963 when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to recruit several hundred northern college students, mostly white, to work in Mississippi during the summer. They helped African-American residents try to register to vote, establish a new political party, and learn about history and politics in newly-formed .

Because black Mississippians were barred from Democratic Party primaries and caucuses, they challenged the right of the Party's all-white delegation to represent the state at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August.

Because black Mississippi residents were not allowed to vote, they held a parallel "Freedom " in November and challenged the right of the all-white Mississippi congressional delegation to represent the state in Washington in January 1965. Residents and volunteers were met by extraordinary violence, including murders, bombings, kidnappings, and torture. Much of this was covered on national television and focused the country's attention on civil rights issues for the first time.

Why Did Freedom Summer Happen? For nearly a century, segregation had prevented most African-Americans in Mississippi from or holding public office. Segregated housing, schools, workplaces, and public accommodations denied black Mississippians access to political or economic power. Most lived in dire poverty, indebted to white banks or plantation owners and kept in check by police and groups such as the . African-Americans who dared to challenge these conditions were often killed, tortured, raped, beaten, arrested, fired from their jobs, or evicted from their homes.

SNCC and CORE leaders believed that bringing well-connected white volunteers from northern colleges to Mississippi would expose these conditions. They hoped that media attention would make the federal government enforce civil rights laws that local officials ignored. They also planned to help black Mississippians organize a new political party that would be ready to compete against the mainstream Democratic Party after voting rights had been won.

Who Participated in Freedom Summer? More than 60,000 black Mississippi residents risked their lives to attend local meetings, choose candidates, and vote in a "Freedom Election" that ran parallel to the regular 1964 national . Several hundred African-American families also hosted northern volunteers in their homes.

Nearly 1,500 volunteers worked in project offices scattered across Mississippi. Most volunteers were white students from northern colleges, but 254 were clergy sponsored by the National Council of Churches, 169 were attorneys recruited by the and the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee, and 50 were medical professionals from the Medical Committee for Human Rights.

What Were the Goals for Freedom Summer? Its overarching goal was to empower local residents to participate in local, state, and national elections. Its other main goal was to focus the nation's attention on conditions in Mississippi. Specific goals for the summer included:

Increase Organizers wanted as many black Mississippians as possible to try to join the voter rolls. They correctly assumed that the majority would be denied the right to vote and that this injustice could be widely exposed.

Create the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Because officials prevented most blacks from registering to vote or participating in the regular Democratic Party, organizers tried to create a separate party and hold a parallel election.

Challenge the Democratic National Committee (DNC) At the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the MFDP contested the right of the white-supremacist delegation to represent Mississippi. They challenged it on the grounds that black residents had been systematically excluded from party meetings and primaries at which the delegates were chosen.

Set Up Freedom Schools Schools were established in local churches, storefronts, and other buildings so children and adults could learn black history, social studies, , and math, as well as develop leadership skills.

Open Community Centers These were opened in existing buildings or new ones erected from scratch in order to provide child care, library books, meals, medical assistance, and other services denied to segregated black neighborhoods.

Hold a Since black residents couldn't vote in the regular election for president and local offices, organizers conducted a parallel election in which all residents could participate. It was scheduled just before the segregated regular election held on November 3, 1964.

Challenge Exclusionary Congressional Elections After the all-white winners of the regular election were sent to Washington, D.C., the MFDP challenged their right to take seats in Congress because black residents had been systematically excluded from the electoral process.

Who Opposed Freedom Summer? A number of groups opposed the project. Officials in Mississippi at all levels denounced the Summer Project. Its senators and governor publicly refused to obey federal integration laws, the state police nearly doubled in size, legislators passed new laws prohibiting picketing and leafleting, and local sheriffs and police chiefs expanded their forces and acquired new weapons. Businesses banded together in white Citizens Councils to coordinate punishment of African-Americans who participated in Freedom Summer. They foreclosed mortgages on black residents' homes, fired workers from jobs, banned customers from shopping in stores, and shut down food pantries for the poor. Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan inflicted violence on black residents and civil rights workers. Between June 16 and September 30, 1964, there were at least 6 murders, 29 shootings, 50 bombings, more than 60 beatings, and over 400 arrests of project workers and local residents.

What Did Freedom Summer Accomplish? On the project's first day, June 21, three workers (, Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman) were kidnapped and murdered. Americans all around the country were shocked by the killing of civil rights workers and the brutality they witnessed on their televisions.

The MFDP convention drew hundreds of people and successfully launched the new party. Its delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, however, were not recognized by party leaders and were not allowed to take seats.More than 40 Freedom Schools opened in 20 communities. More than 2,000 students enrolled in classes led by 175 teachers. During the unofficial Freedom Vote held October 31- November 2, more than 62,000 people cast ballots despite shootings, beatings, intimidation, and arrests. In most counties, Freedom Voters outnumbered regular Democratic Party voters.

By the fall of 1964, many organizers and activists had become disillusioned. The brutality of the white power structure convinced some civil rights workers that had failed. The refusal of the U.S. government to enforce its own civil rights laws disillusioned those who had hoped for federal intervention. This persuaded many activists around the nation that traditional politics would not secure basic civil rights. Some national leaders, such as and , therefore began to urge African- Americans to seize their rights "by any means necessary." This sentiment helped create the Movement and organizations such as the Black Panthers.

What Happened After Freedom Summer? Freedom Summer raised the consciousness of millions of people to the plight of African-Americans and the need for change. The and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed Congress in part because lawmakers' constituents had been educated about these issues during Freedom Summer. Mississippi's black residents gained organizing skills and political experience. By the end of 1966, more than half of African-Americans in southern states had registered to vote. In the years that followed, many were elected to local offices such as mayors, school boards, and chiefs of police.In later years, when the federal government finally sent dozens of officials into local courthouses to enable African-Americans to vote and run for office, they were prepared to take part in the political process.

Source:http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828- 4294963805&dsRecordDetails=R:CS3707

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-mississippi-freedom-summer-project/ 6 minute Walter Cronkite news clip (from 1964) about the Freedom Summer

Station 3: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 & The Voting Rights Act of 1965 In a nationally televised address on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy urged the nation to take action toward guaranteeing equal treatment of every American regardless of race. Soon after, Kennedy proposed that Congress consider civil rights legislation that would address voting rights, public accommodations, school desegregation, nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs, and more. Despite Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson just a few hours after House approval on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools.

Passage of the act was not easy. House opposition bottled up the bill in the House Rules Committee. In the Senate, opponents attempted to talk the bill to death in a filibuster. In early 1964, House supporters overcame the Rules Committee obstacle by threatening to send the bill to the floor without committee approval. The Senate filibuster was overcome through the floor leadership of Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, the considerable support of President Lyndon Johnson, and the efforts of Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who convinced Republicans to support the bill. However, even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, very few African Americans were registered voters, and they had very little, if any, political power, either locally or nationally. In 1964, numerous demonstrations were held, and the considerable violence that erupted brought renewed attention to the issue of voting rights. The combination of public revulsion to ongoing violence and Johnson's political skills stimulated Congress to pass the voting rights bill on August 5, 1965. The legislation outlawed literacy tests and provided for the appointment of Federal examiners with the power to register qualified citizens to vote. While the use of poll taxes in national elections had been abolished by the 24th amendment (1964) to the Constitution; the Voting Rights Act directed the Attorney General to challenge the use of poll taxes in state and local elections. The law had an immediate impact. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new black voters had been registered, one-third by Federal examiners. By the end of 1966, only 4 out of the 13 southern states had fewer than 50 percent of African Americans registered to vote.

Source: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=97 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100

Civil Rights Act 1964

TITLE I- SEC. 101. "(2) No person acting under color of law shall— "(A) in determining whether any individual is qualified under State law or laws to vote in any Federal election, apply any standard, practice, or procedure different from the standards, practices, or procedures applied under such law or laws to other individuals within the same county, parish, or similar political subdivision who have been found by State officials to be qualified to vote; "(C) employ any as a qualification for voting in any Federal election unless (i) such test is administered to each individual and is conducted wholly in , and (ii) a certified copy of the test and of the answers given by the individual is furnished to him within twenty-five days of the submission of his request made… TITLE II- SEC. 201. (a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin TITLE VI- SEC. 601. No person in the shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. TITLE VII- SEC. 703. (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer-- to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; SEC. 705. (a) There is hereby created a Commission to be known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission… The Commission shall have power-- (1) to cooperate with and, with their consent, utilize regional, State, local, and other agencies, both public and private, and individuals; (3) to furnish to persons subject to this title such technical assistance as they may request to further their compliance with this title or an order issued thereunder; (5) to make such technical studies as are appropriate to effectuate the purposes and policies of this title and to make the results of such studies available to the public; (6) to refer matters to the Attorney General with recommendations for intervention in a civil action brought by an aggrieved party

Voting Rights Act 1965

SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. SEC. 3. (a) Whenever the Attorney General institutes a proceeding under any statute to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth amendment in any State or political subdivision the court shall authorize the appointment of Federal examiners by the United States Civil Service Commission in accordance with section 6 to serve for such period of time and for such political subdivisions as the court shall determine is appropriate to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth amendment SEC. 4. (a) To assure that the right of citizens of the United States to vote is not denied or abridged on account of race or color, no citizen shall be denied the right to vote in any Federal, State, or local election because of his failure to comply with any test or device in any State SEC. 10. (a) The Congress finds that the requirement of the payment of a as a precondition to voting …Congress declares that the constitutional right of citizens to vote is denied or abridged in some areas by the requirement of the payment of a poll tax as a precondition to voting. SEC. 12. (a) Whoever shall deprive or attempt to deprive any person of any right secured by section 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 or shall violate section 11(a) or (b), shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKfoJJA5xWM 4:48 video of LBJ discussing importance of passing the Civil Rights Act 1965

Station 4: The Watts Race Riots 1965

With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, race relations seemed to be headed in the right direction. However, states acted to circumvent the new federal law, including that created Proposition 14, which moved to block the fair housing section of the act. This created anger and a feeling of injustice within the inner cities.

On August 11, 1965, 's South Central neighborhood of Watts became a scene of the greatest example of racial tension America had seen.

A Los Angeles police officer pulled over motorist Marquette Frye, who was with his brother Ronald; he suspected Marquette of driving drunk. While officers questioned them, a crowd of onlookers had begun to form. When Rena Frye, the boys mother showed up, a struggle ensued which led to the arrest of all 3 members of the Frye family. More officers had arrived on the scene and had hit the brothers with their batons. The crowd had grown and by this point had become angry. After the police left the scene, the crowd & tension escalated and sparked the riots, which lasted 6 days. More than 34 people died, 1000 wounded, and an estimated $50 - $100 million in property damage.

After the , then Governor Pat Brown named John McCone to head a commission to study the riots. The report issued by the commission concluded that the riots weren't the act of thugs, but rather symptomatic of much deeper problems: the high jobless rate in the inner city, poor housing, and bad schools. Although the problems were clearly pointed out in the report, no great effort was made to address them, or to rebuild what had been destroyed in the riots

The legacy of the Watts Riots remains disputed and controversial. “To many,” writes Valerie Reitman and Mitchell Landsberg in the Los Angeles Times, “the events … remain a riot, pure and simple—a social breakdown into mob rule and criminality. To others, they were a revolt, a rebellion, an uprising—a violent but justified leap into a future of black self-empowerment.”

“People keep calling it a riot, but we call it a revolt because it had a legitimate purpose,” said Tommy Jacquette, a friend of Frye, to the Times in 2005. “It was a response to police brutality and social exploitation of a community and of a people.”

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