What was the "Freedom Summer"?
Freedom Summer, or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. There, and across the Southern states, Jim Crow laws, threats and murder were used to scare black voters and make them too afraid to register. Their main goals were to inspire African Americans to register to vote, establish a new political party, and learn about history and politics in newly-formed Freedom Schools. Since Mississippi was one of the only states that did not allow African Americans to register to vote, this state was the focus of the movement.More than 1,000 Freedom Summer volunteers, mostly white northern college students, worked alongside thousands of black Mississippians. Their voter-registration efforts met with intimidation and violence from local officials and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. During the 10-week Freedom Summer project more than 1,000 activists were arrested, there were multiple beatings, black churches were firebombed along with black owned businesses and homes, and multiple murders. The unrest and killings drew media attention and gave momentum to efforts in Congress to pass civil rights legislation.