Freedom Summer (1964)
* Focus: Voter registration for Black Americans in Mississippi.
* This was a state with a deeply entrenched system of Jim Crow laws that effectively barred Black people from voting.
* Over 1,000 volunteers, mostly white college students, went to Mississippi to work on voter registration drives, set up freedom schools, and organize communities.
* Key actions:
* Setting up voter registration drives.
* Organizing Freedom Schools to educate Black children.
* Conducting community organizing and outreach.
* Significance: While Freedom Summer itself did not directly result in a large increase in Black voter registration in Mississippi, it brought national attention to the issue and highlighted the brutality of the Jim Crow South.
March on Selma (1965)
* Focus: Voting rights and the right to equal protection under the law.
* The march specifically aimed to highlight the violence and discrimination Black people faced when trying to register to vote in Selma, Alabama.
* It also called for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
* Key actions:
* Three marches took place:
* First attempt: March 7, 1965 (Bloody Sunday), where state troopers and local police violently attacked peaceful marchers.
* Second attempt: March 9, 1965, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was stopped by law enforcement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
* Third march: March 21, 1965, was successful and concluded in Montgomery, Alabama.
* Significance: The brutality of the police response to the marches galvanized public opinion and pressured the government to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices and greatly expanded Black voter registration in the South.
In summary, both Freedom Summer and the March on Selma were essential components of the Civil Rights Movement, fighting for the right to vote and other civil liberties for Black Americans. Freedom Summer was a grassroots effort to register Black voters in Mississippi, while the March on Selma was a public demonstration to highlight the ongoing injustices and call for the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Both campaigns were crucial in the advancement of civil rights in the United States.