Interpret the Evidence and Put It in Context

Document Links:

Document 26.5 Prospectus for Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964

Document 26.6 Nancy Ellin, Letter Describing Freedom Summer, 1964

Document 26.7 White Southerners Respond to Freedom Summer, 1964

Document 26.8 Fannie Lou Hamer, Address to the Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee, 1964

Document 26.9 Lyndon B. Johnson, Monitoring the MFDP Challenge, 1964

Interpret the Evidence

  1. What did local blacks think of white volunteers in the Freedom Summer project (Document 26.6)? What were the advantages and disadvantages of bringing white volunteers to Mississippi?

  2. Why were voter registration and political organizing the focus of Freedom Summer (Document 26.5)? Why did the project also include freedom schools?

  3. What arguments did the Charleston Post (Document 26.7) make to discredit Freedom Summer? Compare these arguments to the goals for the project as expressed in the Freedom Summer Prospectus (Document 26.5).

  4. How did Fannie Lou Hamer use the testimony of her experience in a Mississippi jail (Document 26.8) to gain support for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party?

  5. Do you think President Johnson’s views toward seating the MFDP delegation (Document 26.9) were consistent with his vision of the Great Society? Explain.

Put It in Context

In what ways did Freedom Summer succeed? In what ways did it fail?

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