James Charles Evers was an American civil rights activist,businessman,radio personality,and politician. Evers was known for his role in the civil rights movement along with his younger brother Medgar Evers. After serving in World War II,Evers began his career as a disc jockey at WHOC in Philadelphia,Mississippi. In 1954,he was made the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) State Voter Registration chairman. After his brother's assassination in 1963,Evers took over his position as field director of the NAACP in Mississippi. In this role,he organized and led many demonstrations for the rights of African Americans.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro,North Carolina,and Nashville,Tennessee,the Committee sought to coordinate and assist direct-action challenges to the civic segregation and political exclusion of African Americans. From 1962,with the support of the Voter Education Project,SNCC committed to the registration and mobilization of black voters in the Deep South. Affiliates such as the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama also worked to increase the pressure on federal and state government to enforce constitutional protections.
Jackson State University is a public historically black research university in Jackson,Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of student enrollment. The university is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and classified among "R2:Doctoral Universities –High research activity".
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP),also referred to simply as the Freedom Democratic Party,was an American political party that existed in the state of Mississippi from 1964 to 1968,during the Civil Rights Movement. Created as the partisan political branch of the Freedom Democratic organization,the party was organized by African Americans and White Americans sympathetic to the Civil Rights Movement from Mississippi to challenge the established power of the state Mississippi Democratic Party,which at the time opposed the Civil Rights Movement and allowed participation only by Whites,despite the fact that African Americans made up 40% of the state population.
Freedom Summer,also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project,was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. Blacks had been restricted from voting since the turn of the century due to barriers to voter registration and other laws. The project also set up dozens of Freedom Schools,Freedom Houses,and community centers such as libraries,in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local Black population.
Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting and women's rights activist,community organizer,and a leader in the civil rights movement. She was the vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party,which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer also organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was also a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus,an organization created to recruit,train,and support women of all races who wish to seek election to government office.
The March Against Fear was a major 1966 demonstration in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Activist James Meredith launched the event on June 5,1966,intending to make a solitary walk from Memphis,Tennessee,to Jackson,Mississippi via the Mississippi Delta,starting at Memphis's Peabody Hotel and proceeding to the Mississippi state line,then continuing through,respectively,the Mississippi cities of Hernando,Grenada,Greenwood,Indianola,Belzoni,Yazoo City,and Canton before arriving at Jackson's City Hall. The total distance marched was approximately 270 miles over a period of 21 days. The goal was to counter the continuing racism in the Mississippi Delta after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the previous two years and to encourage African Americans in the state to register to vote. He invited only individual black men to join him and did not want it to be a large media event dominated by major civil rights organizations.
Lawrence Guyot Jr. was an American civil rights activist and the director of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.
Rust College is a private historically black college in Holly Springs,Mississippi. Founded in 1866,it is the second-oldest private college in the state. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church,it is one of ten historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) founded before 1868 that are still operating.
Annie Bell Robinson Devine (1912–2000) was an American activist in the Civil Rights Movement.
Victoria Jackson Gray Adams was an American civil rights activist from Hattiesburg,Mississippi. She was one of the founding members of the influential Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Walls is a town located in northern DeSoto County,Mississippi,United States,near the Mississippi River,part of the larger region known as "The Delta",and known for its rich,dark soil. As it is in the upper northwest corner of Mississippi,it is in the Memphis,Tennessee metropolitan area. Its ZIP code is 38680. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,162,with an estimated population of 1,463 in 2018.
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations operating in Mississippi. COFO was formed in 1961 to coordinate and unite voter registration and other civil rights activities in the state and oversee the distribution of funds from the Voter Education Project. It was instrumental in forming the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. COFO member organizations included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The Mississippi Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Mississippi. The party headquarters is located in Jackson,Mississippi.
Unita Zelma Blackwell was an American civil rights activist who was the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Blackwell was a project director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and helped organize voter drives for African Americans across Mississippi. She was also a founder of the US–China Peoples Friendship Association,a group dedicated to promoting cultural exchange between the United States and China. She also served as an advisor to six US presidents:Lyndon Johnson,Richard Nixon,Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter,Ronald Reagan,and Bill Clinton.
Hollis Watkins was an American activist who was part of the Civil Rights Movement activities in the state of Mississippi during the 1960s. He became a member and organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1961,was a county organizer for 1964's "Freedom Summer",and assisted the efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to unseat the regular Mississippi delegation from their chairs at the 1964 Democratic Party national convention in Atlantic City. He founded Southern Echo,a group that gives support to other grass-roots organizations in Mississippi. He also was a founder of the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.
Hartman Turnbow was a Mississippi farmer,orator,and activist during the Civil Rights Movement. On April 9,1963,Turnbow was one of the first African Americans to attempt to register to vote in Mississippi,along with a group called the "First Fourteen".
Euvester Simpson is an American voting rights activist and contributor to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. A Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member at the age of 17,she helped black people learn to read,write,and register to vote in Mississippi during the movement. She was an active member in the movement through its entirety. She was involved in the Winona,Mississippi bus incident.
Ralph Edwin King Jr.,better known as Ed King,is a United Methodist minister,civil rights activist,and retired educator. He was a key figure in historic civil rights events taking place in Mississippi,including the Jackson Woolworth’s sit-in of 1963 and the Freedom Summer project in 1964. Rev. King held the position of chaplain and dean of students,1963–1967,at Tougaloo College in Jackson,Mississippi. At this critical juncture of the civil rights movement,historian John Dittmer described King as “the most visible white activist in the Mississippi movement.”
The Freedom Vote,also known as the Freedom Ballot,Mississippi Freedom Vote,Freedom Ballot Campaign,or the Mississippi Freedom Ballot,was a 1963 mock election organized in the U.S. state of Mississippi to combat disenfranchisement among African Americans. The effort was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO),a coalition of Mississippi's four most prominent civil rights organizations,with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) taking a leading role. By the end of the campaign,over 78,000 Mississippians had participated. The Freedom Vote directly led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
