Emma Giddings
12/19/14
History 2
Mississippi Freedom Summer
During the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, thousands of civil rights activists and volunteers launched a campaign to register African Americans to vote. Their efforts throughout the summer were to not only achieve voting registration for everyone, but also to draw public attention to the issues surrounding voting rights, create opportunities for African Americans, and create an overall change in society. Throughout the summer, many volunteers experienced harassment from people and organizations who disagreed with their ideas and intentions. People went to extreme lengths to prevent the registration of black voters, including murdering three volunteers participating in the project. The problems being addressed during the summer of 1964 resulted in more publicity, rather than change. Although the Freedom Summer failed in their attempt to register African Americans to vote, it was an overall success because it drew attention to the issue of unfulfilled voting rights…show more content… They realized the reason that African Americans weren’t voting was because the states were using tactics to prevent them from doing so. Many of the southern states created a poll tax and issued literacy tests to prevent them from being registered. The organizers of the Freedom Summer project selected Mississippi to campaign in because their percentage of African Americans who were registered to vote was lower than any other state in the country. Only 6.7% of African Americans were enlisted. The Freedom Summer was organized by Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), which is an affiliation of major Civil Rights organizations in Mississippi. The campaign was directed by Robert Parris Moses, a civil rights activist, and many students and volunteers assisted during the