#3 Roots of Justice

Roots of Justice: Mississippi Freedom Summer

In the Summer of 1964 the efforts of poor southern blacks made a difference across the country. Racism in America came to a boiling point. This boiling point was centered around voting rights for African Americans in the State of Mississippi.

Whites in Mississippi controlled the state government and used their political power, wealth, and force to alienate blacks in the community. Almost half of Mississippi's population was balck; but only 5% was registered to vote.

Freedom Summer was a movement to solve this issues by registering the black community to vote. This movement grew larger than Mississippi and affected the whole civil rights movement. Freedom Summer was only possible because of the industrious work of volunteer organizations in Mississippi.

These groups organized the Mississippi community to take action and obtain their voting rights. They used their numbers for different techniques such as sit-ins, voter registration campaigns, canvassing, and marches. These tactics built confidence and the movement began to grow. One key to the success of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Salomon points out, was that people were given a stake in the movement. The organizers built close relationships with their members and the community.

In 1962 Revolutionary organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began the battle to earn voting rights for blacks in Mississippi. They joined forces in this battle by creating the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). 

The issues that the COFO attacked in their battle for fair voting right were acts like the grandfather clause, poll taxes, and literacy tests; all part of the white's repertoire to control the government of Mississippi. Lynching blacks in public was another tactic used to intimidate those who were disrupting order in the white community. Aside from lynchings, mobs of whites and the KKK attempted to instill fear in the black community with violence and threats.

Police departments and courthouses across Mississippi were racist. Trials like U.S. v. Cecil Price et al. are perfect examples of this. Defendant Cecil Price was a county sheriff in Mississippi, and an active KKK member. In 1964 he was linked to the murder of three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney. Sherif Price and six other defendants were convicted. Price served less than  5 years. Time magazine covered the story and printed this two-page photo of the county sheriff. Corruption, discrimination, racism, and violence were all common techniques of the Mississippi law enforcement.

http://bit.ly/aUcIKJ

Follow this bitly link to read more about U.S v.  Cecil Price.

 The racism in Mississippi, before, and up to 1964 was uncompromising. Whites refused to change their ways, while the majority of the country began to. Salomon writes of a turning point in the battle for civil rights after three major killings captured the outrageous violence tactics used by whites in 1960. The three volunteers; Medgar Evers, Louis Allen, and Herbert Lee, were leaders and unsung heros who lost their lives fighting racism and discrimination. In the wake of the Georgia execution of Troy Davis I thought it would be worth investigating deeper into these murders.


Medgar Evers was a veteran of World War II and also Mississippi's first NAACP field secretary; a major accomplishment due to the strong opposition of whites. In 1944 Evers went to the Decatur county courthouse with other war veterans to demand the right to vote, he was met by a mob of armed whites. Later he was involved with boycotts of white stores and led the desegregation the University of Mississippi. In 1962 Evers was responsible for the enrollment of many black students into Ole Miss, including James Meredith. This led to an on campus riot, killing two people. As a prominent black leader and revolutionist, Evers was the target of many violent attacks including a molotov cocktail and an attempted attack by the driver of a car; both in 1963. Days after the attempted hit and run, Evers was gunned down outside of his Jackson home. The accused murder was not convicted of by two different juries composed solely of white males. 30 years later, with new evidence, De La Beckwith was brought to justice for Evers homicide.

Louis Allen was also a veteran of WWII, after his service he became a logger and civil rights activist in Liberty Mississippi. The Allen murder is a cold case, like many other homicides in Mississippi during the era. Louis was not a trouble maker but he witnessed the murder of Herbert Lee (below) by a powerful Mississippi State representative E. H. Hurst. Mr. Allen said he was threatened into lying about what he saw. Later his moral coumpss directed him to reveal the truth. He approached the FBI and said he lied about the self defense by E. H. Hurst because he feared for his life. After coming forward to the FBI about the Herbert Lee murder, Louis Allen received a lot of backlash in the community and decided to move away from Mississippi. The day before he was planned to move, he was shot in the head outside his home. The lack of a true investigation during the time shows how corrupt and racist the law enforcement was during the era.

Watch the 60 Minute piece on this case.

http://bit.ly/ePrbSB

Here is another blog I found which is based on the 60 Minute piece about Louis Allen.

http://bit.ly/hdc80x


Herbert Lee was the man murdered in front of Louis Allen by a member of the Mississippi State Legislature, E. H. Hurst. This happened on Sept. 25, 1961 in Liberty Mississippi. Hurst was aquitted after witness Louis Allen was pressured to say he saw Hurst attacked by Lee. Hurst never spent a night in jail.

http://bit.ly/rcCUqB





I never knew about Freedom Summer until I began reading Roots of Justice. Those who battled racism and Jim Crow in Mississippi were only a handful of the thousands of Civil Rights heros who have allowed our country to grow to the place it is at today. Without Freedom Summer I do not think we would be led by President Barrack Obama. Freedom Summer This is an accomplishment that has grown from the seeds planted in Mississippi in the early 1960s. Although Jim Crow has been abolished, racism, inequality, and discrimination still exist in America. The example of Troy Davis is one where America refuses to acknowledge this racism and injustice. There are many similarities between Troy Davis and the three men I wrote about from the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi.

http://bit.ly/p8cvtP



The power of the vote controls our freedoms as Americans. The struggle for voting rights was vitally important to African Americans taking they're destiny into they're own hands. The political environment in which these seeds were planted was one of revolution and change. In some ways it is similar to that of ours today. I think Civil Rights leaders knew this was an opportunity to vault their movement onto a national level and dig up our country's roots of justice.