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Nicole Burrowes: High School Teachers Institute

Friday, January 26, 2024, 08:00am - 05:00pm

“Freedom Summer”

January 26, 2024

9a – 2:30p

Nicole Burrowes, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Rutgers University

In 1964, civil rights organizations, citizens of Mississippi, and student volunteers from across the country came together to challenge segregation in one of the nation’s most racially oppressive states.  In the face of extraordinary violence and economic deprivation, Black Mississippians waged one of the most powerful movements in civil rights history, widely known as “Freedom Summer.” During this campaign, organizers registered African American voters who had been denied the right to vote, organized Freedom Votes, and established Freedom Schools. They created the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, an alternative political party dedicated to unseating the whites-only Mississippi delegation for the Democratic National Convention of 1964. It was a strategic experiment rocked the nation and fundamentally challenged white supremacy in the South. This workshop will draw on film, music and primary sources to examine the history of Freedom Summer, its impact, contradictions, and legacy. We will also situate Freedom Summer in the larger context of the Black Freedom Movement in the United States, the Cold War, independence, and human rights struggles.

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