The Freedom Vote
By the fall of 1963, the number of Black registered voters in Mississippi was still extremely low. There was a misguided perception by white Mississippians that Black people didn’t have the desire to vote. Organizers needed to find a way to demonstrate how discrimination and intimidation were keeping Black folks away from the polls.
As a law student, Timothy Jenkins teamed up with his classmates and began researching the Mississippi codes. They knew they had found something when they stumbled across an “obscure provision in the 1890s passed by the Legislature of Mississippi that was created for white people who felt oppressed by Reconstruction.” Through this, COFO pulled together the 1963 Freedom Vote.
The idea of the Freedom Vote was to register Black Mississippians for a mock election. If enough people showed out, they could prove that the state of Mississippi and white Mississippians were systematically working against the enfranchisement of Black people. Between November 2nd and 4th, 83,000 people cast a ballot in the Freedom Vote for Aaron Henry and Ed King.
What was the purpose of Freedom Vote? It was part of an effort … to fulfill the strategy of dismantling the infrastructure of segregation that we saw in existence.—Courtland Cox, Session 4 page 5
A few months following the Freedom Vote, COFO organized a Freedom Day in Hattiesburg to challenge local circuit clerk Theron Lynd. Over 150 people lined up to register, despite having to wait in the rain. The success of the day inspired protests in Greenwood and Liberty, and it also set the stage for the Mississippi Summer Project.
Another Great Debate
In the midst of trying to figure out what to do next, another debate surfaced – should COFO invite white volunteers to come down to Mississippi? Students from Yale and Stanford had assisted the organizations during the 1963 Freedom Vote, and there was a significant amount of media attention. Organizers were facing incredible violence, and the thought was that the presence of white volunteers would force the federal authorities to take action and shine a spotlight on what was happening in the state.
Many people felt that bringing in outsiders would dismantle all of the work they had done to build up local leadership. Hollis Watkins was concerned that, “These community folks that we had, was on the verge of really beginning to get their taste of responsibility and leadership, were going to sit down.”
After the murder of Louis Allen, the decision was made to bring in volunteers for the summer. To get to know them and help them understand the realities that they would be facing, SNCC and CORE organized an orientation program. There they learned about the geography of Mississippi, the history of slavery, nonviolent resistance, and how to stay safe after dark.
Now, I found that the volunteers were pretty aware of the danger to themselves. Maybe because of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman. I mean, they were conscious of that. What they weren’t conscious of was they were bringing danger to other people in the community. They didn’t have a sense of that. – Charlie Cobb, Session 4, page 49
The real heroes of this piece is the local people who participated, went to Atlantic City, came back and dust off their pants and go back to their little areas and their homes. –Dave Dennis, Session 4 page 54
SNCC saw a couple of opportunities in the lead up to Freedom Summer. One was to channel the energy of the incoming volunteers into an education program for young Black Mississippians that would explore topics in Black history and citizenship. The other was further the conversation from voting to becoming an elected official. The success of the Freedom Vote spurred the idea to create a parallel political party that was truly representative of the people of Mississippi, and so the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was born.
Part 4: Atlantic City and Its Aftermath
