Mississippi Freedom Summer

Part of the American Stories series, this book tells the story of Mississippi during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964. The summer of 1964 witnessed the most astounding successes of the Civil Rights movement as well as the beginning of the dissolution of the political and social coalition that made those successes possible. Provides clear, non-intrusive, and brief editorial notes which provide contextual information. Sets the summer of 1964 in the larger context of American race relations and American national politics by examining first the Kennedy administration's response to James Meredith's attempt to integrate the University of Mississippi and then Lyndon Johnson's response to the attempt by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to unseat the "regular" Mississippi delegates at the national convention in Atlantic City. It also examines the Black challenge to Theodore Bilbo's election as senator in 1946. Explores the strains within the multiracial coalition at work in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer and their import for the emergence of "Black Power" and of the "New Left."