Curtis Wilkie (right), Susan Glisson (center), Charles K. Ross (Ross)
Photo of Wilkie and Glisson Courtesy UM Communications
Photo of Ross I FILE PHOTO | The Daily Mississippian
The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics is sponsoring a discussion April 3 to mark the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer. Freedom Summer was a campaign organized in 1964 to encourage college students to volunteer to fight for civil rights in the state of Mississippi. Many of those who volunteered worked on projects such as voter registration and education programs for blacks — endeavors that enraged many Mississippi politicians. These students, the majority of whom were white and not from the South, also lived in the homes of the black families they were aiming to help.
On June 21, 1964, three young volunteers disappeared in Neshoba County. The bodies of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found 44 days later buried in Philadelphia, Miss. The incident prompted involvement from the FBI and garnered national media attention.
However, dramatic events such as these were not uncommon during Freedom Summer.
The panel discussion will consist of reviewing and discussing events during this period of history, featuring speakers Roy DeBerry, an activist that summer who lived in Holly Springs and guided other volunteers through the dangers of Mississippi; Susan Glisson, executive director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, who organized and led efforts to convict those responsible for the murders of the three men; Charles K. Ross, director of African-American studies at the university and associate professor of history; and Overby Fellow Curtis Wilkie, who worked for the Clarksdale Press Register during Freedom Summer and followed the events as a journalist.
Thursday’s program is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Overby Auditorium located in Farley Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
