Freedom Summer was a civil rights campaign that took place in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. Hundreds of civil rights activists and volunteers, most of them college students, went to Mississippi. There, they worked with local activists to create Freedom Schools to educate Black children, register Black voters, and challenge the segregationist Democratic Party in Mississippi with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. In many cases, activists were met with violence, threats, and intimidation, including the murder of three volunteers. In the end, the Freedom Summer brought national attention to racial discrimination.
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About the inquiry
Compelling Question
How effective was Freedom Summer?
Standards
D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
Instructional Snapshot
Class begins with the teacher providing students with the context of Freedom Summer and introducing its three main goals: educating Black youth, registering voters, and challenging the power of the all-White Democratic Party in Mississippi that supported segregation (listed on the graphic organizer). After dividing students into groups, the teacher then distributes a copy of the source set to each group. (Sources are intentionally combined on handouts for ease of distribution.)
Students then find evidence in the source set of how Freedom Summer participants achieved each of these goals, as well as evidence of obstacles activists faced, recording their evidence on the graphic organizer. Next, students consider the sources as a collection and assess the overall effectiveness of Freedom Summer, placing the event on the spectrum. As students share their conclusions with the class, the class ends by creating a class definition of what constitutes “effective” social change.
Formative Tasks
COLLABORATE: Find evidence of successes and obstacles to achieving the goals of Freedom Summer.
DELIBERATE: Assess the overall effectiveness of Freedom Summer using a spectrum.
PRODUCE: Define “effective” social change as a class.
Sources
Source Set: Freedom Summer Collection
Summative Performance Task
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Taking Informed Action
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