Civil Rights Leaders, Activists Return for Miss. Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary

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JACKSON, MS—Dr. Robert P. Moses, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and director of the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, on Monday, June 2, will mark the 50th anniversary of the pivotal 1964 Civil Rights effort that drew hundreds of civil rights activists and college student volunteers to Mississippi from across America to register African American voters and promote civil rights.

Moses will give the keynote address for the 2014 Medgar Wiley Evers Lecture Series, and will open a new exhibit—“Stand Up!”: Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson, MS. The new exhibit will examine the courage, violence, and promise of the “long, hot summer” using a replica of a room in a Freedom School, the façade of a bombed church, and a photo gallery. It also will tell the story of the murdered Civil Rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner and the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

A leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and co-director of the Council of Federated Organizations, Moses became a principal organizer of the Freedom Summer Project. He was also instrumental in establishing the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that would challenge Mississippi’s all-white delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in August of 1964.

"Bob Moses is a hero for our state and our nation," said Congressman Bennie G. Thompson, "a man who has shed blood, sweat, and tears to ensure the rights guaranteed to every American are realized. Long after Freedom Summer, Dr. Moses continued to work with the children of Mississippi to give them the tools they needed to succeed in our modern world."

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History also is a co-sponsor of the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Conference in Jackson organized by the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, Inc.; Mississippi State Conference NAACP; and Tougaloo College. The June 2529 conference will highlight the legacy of Freedom Summer, recognize the accomplishments of those who changed Mississippi for the better, and examine ways to continue that progress for all of its citizens.

“Stand Up!” will run through October 31 at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. The free exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information on these events contact:

Stephenie Morrisey, MDAH, 601-576-6545, morrisey@mdah.state.ms.us

Or visit:

http://mdah.state.ms.us

http://freedom50.org/

For information on the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum that are under construction and scheduled to open in December 2017 please visit:

http://www.2mississippimuseums.com/

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