Civil Rights Movement Tactics
Reading by Emilye Crosby
This text explores how the Civil Rights Movement utilized a range of tactics to address different problems. It is provided as background information for “A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act: A Case Study of SNCC’s work in Lowndes County and the Emergence of Black Power” by Emilye Crosby.
Dallas County Voters League
Reading by Holly Jansen
An excerpt from Jansen’s Florida State University dissertation, “From Selma To Montgomery: Remembering Alabama’s Civil Rights Movement Through Museums.
Vernon F. Dahmer: Civil Rights Martyr and American Hero
Reading by Joyce Ladner
These remarks were prepared by sociologist and SNCC veteran Joyce Ladner for a commemoration of Vernon Dahmer on January 8, 2016, hosted by the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.
Mississippi Freedom Schools: A Project from the Past Suggests a Lesson for the Future
Reading by David Levine
The heart of the Freedom School endeavor, the source of its vivid and creative energy, was the insistence of its planners and teachers that learning could (and should) be shaped to serve a liberation struggle.
Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) Political Context
Reading by Emilye Crosby
Political context for the formation of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO). This text is provided as background information for “A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act.”
Mississippi at Atlantic City
Reading by Charles M. Sherrod
In 1964, a year after Birmingham’s fire hoses were unleashed on Black children and a year before the March from Selma to Montgomery, SNCC decided to upgrade their protracted work in Mississippi.
U.S. Flag An Act of Defiance for Voting Rights Activists
Resource by Matt Herron
The simple act of a small child carrying an American flag represented defiance of Mississippi law and custom.
Teaching With Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, & Insisted on Equality for All
Lesson by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
Students engage in an interactive activity with short excerpts from Martha Jones’ book to learn about the leading role of Black women in the fight for voting rights throughout U.S. history.
Key Dates in Voting Rights History
Timeline by Emilye Crosby
This timeline of key dates in the struggle for voting rights is provided as background information for “A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act: A Case Study of SNCC’s work in Lowndes County and the Emergence of Black Power” by Emilye Crosby.
The 1965 Mississippi Congressional Challenge
Reading
On January 4, 1965, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) challenged the seating of representatives from Mississippi at the convening of the 89th Congress.
Colia Liddell Lafayette Clark
Reading
Colia L. Clark, a committed Pan Africanist, has spent a lifetime in activist work in the areas of civil rights, human rights, womens rights, workers rights and rights for the homeless and youth.
The Selma Voting Rights Struggle: 15 Key Points from Bottom-Up History and Why It Matters Today
Reading by Emilye Crosby
Today, issues of racial equity and voting rights are front and center in the lives of young people. There is much they can learn from an accurate telling of the Selma (Dallas County) voting rights campaign and the larger Civil Rights Movement.
Bloody Selma
Reading by Prathia Hall
This essay about organizing in Selma is excerpted, with permission, from Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.
The Alabama Project
Reading by CRMVet.org
In September 1963, when four young girls were killed in the Birmingham bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church, Diane Nash Bevel and her husband James Bevel drew up a "Proposal For Action in Montgomery" — a plan for a massive direct action assault on denial of voting rights.
Freedom Fighter: The Life and Legacy of Ms. Dorie Ladner
Interview by Maestra Productions
Dorie Ladner was a passionate civil rights activist and leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This interview about her life was conducted in 2017 by Maestra Productions in collaboration with Bowie State University Department of Fine and Performing Arts and Teaching for Change.
From Civil Rights to Black Power: The Significance of the 1965-66 Alabama Freedom Movement
Reading by Abayomi Azikiwe
The application of independent politics transformed the African American struggle in Selma, Alabama.