American Experience

S26E06 Freedom Summer

During the sweltering summer of 1964, student volunteers from across the nation poured into Mississippi to stand alongside local civil rights activists in a massive voter registration drive. At the time, intimidation and deliberately confusing literacy tests kept fewer than seven percent of the state’s African-American citizens from registering to vote. Beyond the registration push, activists established Freedom Schools to teach children about African-American history and culture. They also formed a separate, integrated Democratic Party to challenge Mississippi’s all-white delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, demanding real representation.