"Blacks in the South were barred from voting, especially in Mississippi, by not allowing them to even register. They administered literacy tests and even then discriminated by race.
Freedom Summer” was a statewide voter registration effort launched by SNCC. Volunteers came in to teach voter education and registration classes by night for the adults, and during the day, they taught children how to read.
White Northern students were brought in for the “Freedom Summer” campaign because the country would be more concerned if the movement was not only done by African Americans.
The personal sacrifices student volunteers made in order to go to Mississippi were the risks of being beaten, arrested, or even murdered. For example, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were three volunteers on their way to the Freedom Summer movement that were abducted, tortured, and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan."
Copyrighted and submitted by a DayInBlackHistory.com contributor (T.O.).