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Not long ago, when a volunteer expressed surprise at what he
discovered about the Civil Rights Movement, historian
Michael Edmonds realized that the young man only knew “a
children’s book understanding… a sanitized version…” of the
movement.
It’s an understanding that many Americans have. This book
seeks to remedy that in a small, but monumental, way.
Fifty-four years ago, 42 percent of Mississippi’s citizens
were black, yet 90 percent of thise eligible African
Americans could not vote. The prevailing attitude in
Mississippi then was single-minded: “white-only.”
In the winter of 1963-64, after “much discussion,” the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) decided to
move forward with plans for voter registration in the state.
They initially called it the Mississippi Summer Project but
it later became known as Freedom Summer. Volunteers included
about a thousand college students – most of them white
Northerners, clergy, lawyers and medical personnel.
When opponents heard what was coming to Mississippi, they
“swung into action.” Laws were passed to make most forms of
protest illegal. Local and state police “beefed up their
arsenals; Jackson even bought a tank,” says Edmonds. Black
citizens who participated in the program endured harassment
and threats; racist groups held “sessions” on how to murder
and dispose bodies without leaving evidence. And still,
volunteers persevered by holding voter registration classes,
by starting and running Freedom Schools and establishing
libraries and by continuing to hold meetings to spur
“enthusiasm for the program in the Negro community.”
But just nine weeks after it started, the Mississippi Summer
Project ended. Organizers, says Edmond, were “exhausted,
disappointed, and angry” because they felt that little had
been done and white supremacy was “as deeply entrenched as
ever.” What they didn’t know, however, was that they “had
actually accomplished more than… leaders could appreciate at
the time.” They had “awakened sleeping giants.”
When I first started Risking Everything, I wasn’t
sure what to expect. The cover gives almost nothing away; in
fact, it’s a little bland.
Not so, with what’s inside.
Through eyewitness reports and information from more than 40
documents, editor Michael Edmonds brings readers an
in-the-trenches look at Freedom Summer in a way you’ll never
get from any class. Included are letters to home from
Freedom workers, training manuals, essays, testimonies,
transcripts, photographs, and curriculums; as Edmonds
himself says, “No punches are pulled.”
And that’s what makes this an excellent book: it’s both a
paean to those who did their jobs that summer, and as
education to anyone who’s too young to remember what
happened 50 years ago. And if that’s you – in either case –
then you’ll like this book. For you, Risking Everything
is a giant eye-opener. |
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