Freedom Summer

Anyone from the American South can tell you that the summers there can be brutal. The summer of 1964 was no exception. America was awash with images from the previous year, including unprovoked police attacks on protesters in Selma, Alabama. Montgomery would see Rosa Parks standing up to authority in June, causing the Montgomery bus boycott with a single defiant act. The summer before, Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered his "I have a dream" speech during the March on Washington. Finally, on June 5, 1964, after months of debate, the Civil Rights Act became the law of the land. The Freedom Summer of 1964 added a shocking new layer of reality to these advances and setbacks.

What happened in Mississippi that year was a mix of hope, persistence, and the horror of humanity's dark side unleashed in a torrent of racial and ethnic hatred. The case has been recounted, rehashed, and revisited a hundred times. Authorities pressed new charges well into the 21st century. A successful Hollywood film was released based on the summer's events. What was the Freedom Summer, also known as the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project? Learn about its causes, unfolding, and long-term effects in this explanation.

Freedom Summer Summary

As the civil rights movement gained a foothold across the American South, three crucial groups formed a coalition to secure a Black voting registry in Mississippi. These groups were CORE (Congress on Racial Equality), the SNCC (Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee), and the local COFO (Council of Federated Organisations). The activists would have their work cut out for them, as African Americans in this region were often subject to violence and intimidation at polling places. The KKK was highly active in Mississippi and reacted with predictable violence to the burgeoning rights activism in their state.

Fig. 1 Foner (Thomas) Freedom Summer Papers

Mississippi Freedom Summer Project

The activists dubbed their plan the "Mississippi Freedom Summer Project," or "Freedom Summer" for short. In addition to recent advances in the civil rights movement, the Freedom Rides of 1961, in which peaceful demonstrations protested Jim Crow laws at interstate stops across the South, inspired the Freedom Summer orchestrators.

Fig. 2 Foner (Thomas) Freedom Summer Papers Pt.2

The architects of Freedom Summer enlisted the help of over 700 white volunteers. On June 15, 1964, just five days after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the drive for voter registration began. Leader of voter education and registration Bob Moses stressed to participants dispersed across the state that they should be prepared for the eventuality that they would end up in jail. Therefore, they had to take bail money with them into the field.

Freedom Summer Murders

Among the civil rights workers arriving on the 15th were Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. Schwerner and Goodman were white, and Chaney was African-American. The trio traveled to rural Neshoba county, where they disappeared after visiting the town of Philadelphia.

The FBI agent in charge of the case was John Proctor, whose investigation code was "MIBURN," which stood for "Mississippi Burning." Proctor found that Neshoba County arrested Chaney for speeding. All three men were jailed and subsequently made bail. The police followed them on the way out of town.

Not long after, police received reports of a burning CORE station wagon outside the city limits of Philadelphia. State police soon received an anonymous tip from a "Mr. X," who divulged the location of the bodies underneath a dam on a nearly-250 acre local farm. A mob of Klansmen had shot all three victims of a Klan conspiracy.

Fig. 3 Missing persons poster created by the FBI in 1964

Verdict

The federal trial took place in Meridian, MI. Seven of the defendants received sentences from three to ten years. Nine were acquitted, and the jury deadlocked on the other three.

Freedom Summer Timeline 1964

Freedom Summer Significance

Through the lens of history, the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project was a compelling but brief chapter in the fight for freedom. The project was not hugely successful in fulfilling its immediate aim of creating a Black voting registry. In the end, only about 1,200 new voters managed to cross the poll lines. However, 40 Freedom Schools served the Black Community. In addition, the project led to the foundation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Unfortunately, MFDP delegates were refused seats at the Democratic National Convention that year.

Fig. 4 George Raymond Mug Shot

Many folks are convinced that the publicity surrounding the case and the widely broadcast images of that sweltering summer persuaded President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the following year. After 1964, the civil rights movement would become more fractious and militant with the advent of the Black Power movement.

Freedom Summer Murders - Resolution

Improbably, the Justice Department reopened the case in 2002 thanks to a civilian investigation conducted by a high school class doing a research project on the case. "Mr. X," who had tipped off police about the location of the three men's bodies, was then identified as Maynard King, a local highway patrolman. Then, in 2005, aptly named killer Edgar Ray Killen was charged and sentenced to three counts of manslaughter. Killen died in prison in 2018.

Fig. 5 Edgar Ray Killed Mug shot