Freedom Summer

Organizing Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer was organized by a coalition of some of the most well known civil rights organizations of the time: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). These organizations made up what was known as the Mississippi Council of Federated Organizations. Because the white community protested African people's right to vote in Mississippi and other Southern states, volunteers leaving for the South had to be prepared for the strong possibility of encountering violence. College students were trained by SNCC workers in nonviolent protest methods at Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio. Most of the students were around 21 years old, white, and from wealthy families. The students were asked to bring money for bail, expenses, and medical costs, as well as money for transportation home at the end of the summer. After about a week of training, the volunteers were sent to Mississippi. Their goals for the summer were to build freedom schools, open community centers where African people could obtain both legal advice and medical services, register African voters, and establish and organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

College students who participated in Freedom Summer knew that they might encounter violence, harassment, and even death. Many local governmental officials in Mississippi anticipated the arrival of the volunteers by increasing their police force, reinforcing their weaponry, and preparing their jails and prisons. Many political leaders passed laws that would inhibit disruptive activities they thought might occur over the course of the summer. Violence did erupt— when white supremacist groups, community members, and police attacked the Freedom Summer workers numerous times over the duration of the summer. African American homes, churches, and Freedom schools were burned down. Over 1,000 Freedom [Page 253]Summer volunteers were arrested, and many were deliberately beaten while in police custody.

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