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Fannie Lou Hamer and the Civil Rights Movement in Rural Mississippi
An article from Memphis World about the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Freedom Drive, September 5, 1964.

An article from Memphis World about the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Freedom Drive, September 5, 1964.

Transcript:

Mississippi Summer Project Ends; Mississippi Freedom Drive Begins

GREENWOOD, Miss.

—The Mississippi Summer Project has ended and the Mississippi Freedom Project has begun.

The summer-long drive - involving over 900 college students, doctors, nurses, lawyers and ministers began June 21 and ended this week. The Mississippi Freedom Project, a continuation of the summer's work, began immediately.

Over 200 of the summer workers will stay in Mississippi. They join the 83 permanent staff members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who have been working in Mississippi for the last three years.

The SNCC national office, located here through the summer, will move back to Atlanta, Ga. The summer's four main thrusts

  • voter registration, Freedom Schools, Community Centers and political action - will continue. By the summer's end, there were 41 Freedom Schools in 20 communities throughout the state. Total enrollment was 2,165. There were 175 full-time Freedom School teachers.

Summer workers established 13 Community Centers, staffed by 61 workers, offering literacy classes, art, music, drama, recreation, health and children care programs, and libraries. Two centers - in Harmony and Mileston - are being built from the ground up by local people and volunteers.

Over 55,000 Negroes registered on "Freedom Registration" forms for the Freedom Democratic, the group that successfully challenged Mississippi's all-white regular Democratic Party at, the National Democratic Convention in Atlantic City. Regular voter registration efforts were not as successful. For instance, only 2 of the 123 Leflore County Negroes who took Mississippi's tortuous registration test between June and July became registered voters. In contrast, 3,384 Leflore County Negroes registered, on Freedom Registration forms.

SNCC workers hope to spread "Summer Project" activities through out other deep South states, also, especially in Eastern Arkansas, Central Alabama and Southwest Georgia were SNCC drives have been underway for several years.

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Citation Information
“Memphis World: Mississippi Summer Project Ends; Mississippi Freedom Drive Begins,” Digital Public Library of America, http://dp.la/item/cfcb54f552e995caf77acffa7041cc76.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Rhodes College, Crossroads to Freedom via Tennessee Digital Library.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 10 of 12 in the Primary Source Set Fannie Lou Hamer and the Civil Rights Movement in Rural Mississippi

Previous ItemNext Item
A clip of students demonstrating against the Vietnam War including a short speech by Fannie Lou Hamer, August 7, 1971.
An article from Memphis World reporting Hamer’s thoughts on medical care for African Americans, May 9, 1964.
An article from Memphis World about Hamer being refused a place on the ballot at the Democratic National Convention, October 31, 1964.
Audio clips from an interview in which Harry Belafonte reflects on Hamer’s significance and impact, January 28, 1991.
An excerpt from a FBI file record detailing the arrest of Hamer and five others for trying to use a bus terminal bathroom, June 1963.
A photograph of an African American cotton plantation worker in the Mississippi Delta in 1939.
A photograph of an African American at a plantation store in the Mississippi Delta in 1939.
A photograph of a group at the county convention of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.
An article from Memphis World describing a mock ballot among African American voters, November 14, 1964.
An article from Memphis World about the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Freedom Drive, September 5, 1964.
A photograph of African American day laborers in the Mississippi Delta in 1940.
A photograph of participants at a Freedom Summer meeting in 1964.

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To give feedback, contact us at education@dp.la. You can also suggest a primary source set topic or view resources for National History Day.

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