Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

by Susan Goldman Rubin

Overview

In 1964, Mississippi civil rights groups banded together to fight Jim Crow laws in a state where only 6.4 percent of eligible black voters were registered. 

Testing a bold new strategy, they recruited students from across the United States. That summer these young volunteers defied segregation by living with local black hosts, opening Freedom Schools to educate disenfranchised adults and their children, and canvassing door-to-door to register voters.

Everyone involved knew there would be risks but were nonetheless shocked when three civil rights workers disappeared and were soon presumed murdered. The organizers' worst fears were realized as volunteers, local activists, and hosts faced terror on a daily basis. Yet by the middle of August, incredible strides had been made in spite of the vicious intimidation. The summer unleashed an unstoppable wave of determination from black Mississippians to demand their rights and helped bring about a new political order in the American South. 

Fifty years after this landmark civil rights project in Mississippi, an award-winning author offers a riveting account of events that stunned the nation. Includes over 75 photographs, drawings, original documents, a timeline, source notes, bibliography, maps, and an index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823435579
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	01/30/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Susan Goldman Rubin is the award-winning author of Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin,which was a Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book, a SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Book, and a Booklist Top Ten Art Book for Youth. Her other books include a collaboration with Ela Weissberger, The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin, and ALA Notable Children's Book. She lives in Malibu, California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 June 1964 3

Chapter 2 June 20, 1964 10

Chapter 3 June 21, 1964, afternoon 15

Chapter 4 June 22, 1964, early morning 21

Chapter 5 June 22, 1964 24

Chapter 6 June 24, 1964 30

Chapter 7 June 25, 1964 34

Chapter 8 End of June 1964 37

Chapter 9 June 29, 1964 45

Chapter 10 Early July 1964 49

Chapter 11 July and early August 1964 58

Chapter 12 August 7, 1964 63

Chapter 13 August 10, 1964 67

Chapter 14 Mid-August 1964 73

Chapter 15 August 16, 1964 81

Chapter 16 Late August 1964 91

Chapter 17 Aftermath 96

The Story Continues… 99

Where to See More and Learn More About Freedom Summer 100

Time Line 101

Appendixes of Original Documents 104

Source Notes 109

Bibliography and Other Research 114

Picture Credits 116

Index 117

Editorial Reviews

* "This meticulously researched, compellingly told account covers an incredible moment in history...This title is the epitome of excellent historical reporting with the human element never forgotten." —School Library Journal, Starred Review 

* "This reads like suspenseful—and almost unbelievable—fiction, filled with courageous characters, shocking turns of events, and potent emotion..." —Booklist, Starred Review

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—Fifty years after the Freedom Summer murders, this meticulously researched, compellingly told account covers an incredible moment in history. Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney were three young civil rights workers who decided to work for the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to confront bigotry in Mississippi and register African Americans to vote. They left for Meridian, accompanied by student volunteers from across the United States, (where only 6.4 percent of eligible African American voters were registered.) Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney were killed by Klansmen after being arrested. Their deaths deepened the conviction of the others and served to engender incredible strides in the forward momentum of the civil rights movement. This work gives a real sense of the time and place, the issues and the opposing sides, and the impact on the nation. Including myriad period photos and drawings, facsimiles of reports and records, meticulous source notes, an extensive bibliography, picture credits, and an extensive index, this title is the epitome of excellent historical reporting, with the human element never forgotten.—Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA

School Library Journal

2014-03-17
In time for the 50th anniversary of the pivotal civil rights event, Rubin presents heroes, villains and everyday people in 1964 Mississippi. Freedom schools, voter-registration drives and murders drew national attention to Mississippi during the Freedom Summer, and actions there affected the civil rights movement elsewhere, all culminating in the Voting Rights Act, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. The number of eligible black voters rose from 6.4 percent prior to Freedom Summer to 60 percent by the end of 1966. Two threads weave through Rubin's narrative—a detailed story of the murders of civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman and a less focused, anecdotal picture of freedom schools and voter registration, drawing on extensive personal interviews. Though archival material and many photographs are included, too many pages of dense text are unrelieved by visuals. The extensive research is well-documented, and young readers may find much of interest in the websites recommended. Overall, the account is accessible and passionate, taking the events of that violent summer into the present, when, in 2005, 80-year-old, wheelchair-bound Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of the murders of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman and sentenced to three 20-year jail terms. A fascinating treatment of a key civil rights moment. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews