Freedom Summer: Mississippi

“In 1964, civil rights organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized a voter registration drive, known as the Mississippi Summer Project, or Freedom Summer, aimed at dramatically increasing voter registration in Mississippi. The Freedom Summer, comprised of black Mississspians and more than 1,000 out-of-state, predominately white volunteers, faced constant abuse and harrassment from Mississippis white population. The Ku Klux Klan, police and even state and local authorities carried out a systematic series of violent attacks; including arson, beatings, false arrest and the murder of at least three civil rights activists,” (History.com).  

In December of that year, Dr. King and the organization he helped found, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), joined with the SNCC in Albany Georgia where they began a partnership to expand registration and promote Civil Rights. (Learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in America.)

On this MLK holiday, enjoy some of the photos celebrating Mississippi and The South. Learn more about the Jonestown Family Center, pictured above, that “follows a Christian philosophy, focusing on respect for each person as a child of God. All programs strive for the full development of the human person. We believe that education must be holistic — mind, body and spirit.”