20th Century Interactive: Mississippi Burning

Background

Resources

"Mississippi Burning" Film Reviews

Links

Introduction

Mississippi Burning: The Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer Project volunteers singing Civil Rights songs while on the Oxford, Ohio campus of Western College for Women for training sessions. (1964, Photo by George Hoxie) [Smith Library of Regional History, Oxford, Ohio; Mississippi Freedom Summer Collection]

Mississippi Burning
The Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Summer

In the 20th Century Interactive project, lesson 4 is titled "Mississippi Burning." During the summer of 1964 students from northern cities traveled to Mississippi and other southern states to register voters for the new Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The MFDP was formed because African-Americans were refused by the Democratic Party to have representative delegates at the Democratic National Convention that year. Also, the students took part in the Mississippi Summer Project in which they worked with African American children to help them read, write and work for freedom.

During training sessions on the the Western College for Women campus, Freedom Summer Project volunteers gather to sing. Music was an important way of expressing social and political views. (1964, Photo by George Hoxie) [Smith Library of Regional History, Oxford, Ohio; Mississippi Freedom Summer Collection]

In this lesson, students compare and contrast different interpretations of the 1964 Freedom Summer events and explore whether Hollywood and popular culture can accurately portray history.