Mississippi Freedom Schools
Kaitlyn Shearin
What is a Freedom School?
Freedom Summer
The Freedom Summer was a project started by the Council of Federated Organizations and Robert Moses, a teacher and civil rights activist. This project was mainly designed for recruiting college students as temporary civil rights workers and registering African Americans to vote.
Robert Moses
-Was a member of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)
-Was the main organizer for the Freedom Summer project with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)
-He was non-violent and a leader that helped the SNCC to be more non-violent.
Charles Cobb
- He wanted to make alternative schools in Mississippi
-In December of 1963, he devised a plan for the COFO and the SNCC to build freedom schools
-He wanted to create a school to include academic subjects, a cultural program, and political and social studies.
-He wanted a way for students to produce newspapers and organize local civil rights movements by questioning everything.
Staughton Lynd
-He was a white professor
-He helped to create the curriculum for the Freedom Schools
-He was the director of the freedom schools
-He helped coordinate the schools
Origins of the Mississippi Freedom Schools
The Curriculum of the Mississippi Freedom Schools
Curriculum:
Freedom Schools followed three types of curriculum:
- Academic Curriculum
- Citizenship Curriculum
- Recreational Curriculum
All of these curriculum's focused on the following principles:
- The school is an agent of social change
- Students must know their own history.
The curriculum should be linked to the student’s experience
Developing academic skills is crucial.
Questions should be open-ended.
http://educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/A_02_Introduction.htm
The Impacts of the Mississippi Freedom Schools and Boycotts
Boycotts
-These protests and boycotts were usually non-violent, which caused the students to learn more outside of the classroom.
-Some famous Protests:
- After the 1964 Civil Rights Act banned all segregation in public places, several Mississippi Freedom School students attempted to get library cards at the public library.
- Some Freedom School students attempted to eat in what used to be an all "white" restaurant.
- Several other boycotts included demanding better resources for the schools
- Others included organized walk outs and sit ins.
Most of these boycotts ended with arrests.
Impact
Pictures of the Freedom Schools
Freedom School Class
Volunteers singing "We shall Overcome"
Writing in a Freedom School
Memorable Quotes from the Mississippi Freedom Schools
"the Freedom Schools allowed us to believe that we could rise above whatever situation that seemed to have been negative, but we were inspired to work harder...even if we didn't have the supplies or books, we knew that we could make it"-- Dr. Hymethia Washington
"The Freedom School shaped my future, my thinking, my outlook on life, it challenged me to do the things I've done and to have the mindset that I have"-- Eddie James Carthan
"We are going to talk about a lot of things: about Negro people and white people, about rich people and poor people, about the South and about the North, about you and what you think and feel and want...And we're going to try to be honest with each other and say what we believe...We'll also ask some questions and try to find some answers. The first thing is to look around, right here, and see how we live in Mississippi" -- Citizenship Curriculum