Black History Month: The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964

As February is Black History Month, I’ve decided to select a particular theme from the civil rights movement to highlight throughout the month with powerful images: The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. I chose this in part because I discovered a wonderful online source for information on Freedom Summer at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s website. Time permitting, I’ll add additional material to the images, which will be posted with basic citation information and a link to the original page from where I find them. Below is my first post for the month. Image above found here (there are exquisite photos found on this site as well).

Title: Civil Rights Volunteers in Mississippi

Folder Description: In the summer of 1964, Freedom Summer volunteers pose in front of a campaign poster for Victoria Jackson Gray, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party candidate for Congress representing the 5th District. Photo is likely taken outside of the Victoria Jackson Gray’s MFDP headquarters.

Wisconsin Historical Society
Victoria Gray Adams provides a brief account of her transformation into a full-time activist in Faith S. Holsaert, et al., eds. Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2010): 230-239.