Freedom Summer was the 1964 civil-rights project that brought volunteers to Mississippi to register Black voters and establish Freedom Schools.
The campaign was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations, a coalition that included SNCC, CORE, the NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Volunteers arrived during the summer of 1964 to challenge systematic voter suppression, including literacy tests, economic retaliation, intimidation, and violence.
The project created more than 40 Freedom Schools, which offered Black children and adults lessons in history, literature, politics, and civic participation. Activists also helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white official delegation at the Democratic National Convention.
The campaign drew national attention after the disappearance and murder of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Freedom Summer did not immediately eliminate Mississippi’s barriers, but it helped build support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.