1963 Freedom Vote
Freedom Summer was only possible because of years of earlier work by numerous African Americans who lived locally in Mississippi. In 1963, SNCC organized a mock "Freedom Vote" designed to demonstrate the will of Black Mississippians to vote, if not impeded by terror and intimidation. The Mississippi voting procedure at the time required Blacks to fill out a 21 question registration form and answer to the satisfaction of the white registrar, a question on interpretation of any one of 285 sections of the state constitution. Volunteers set up polling places in Black churches and business establishments across Mississippi. After registering on a simple registration form Voters would select candidates to run in the following year's election. Candidates included Rev. Edwin King of Tougaloo College and Aaron Henry, from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Local civil rights workers and volunteers along with students from Stanford and Yale, organized and implemented the mock election, in which tens of thousands voted.
Read more about this topic: Freedom Summer
Famous quotes containing the words freedom and/or vote:
“Here we have the beautiful British compromise: a man can say anything, he mustn’t do anything; a man can listen to anything, but he musn’t be roused to do anything. By freedom of speech is meant freedom to talk about; speech is not saying-as-an-action.”
—Paul Goodman (1911–1972)
“I must sojourn once to the ballot-box before I die. I hear the ballot-box is a beautiful glass globe, so you can see all the votes as they go in. Now, the first time I vote I’ll see if the woman’s vote looks any different from the rest—if it makes any stir or commotion. If it don’t inside, it need not outside.”
—Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883)