During the events to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, the first panel will include Jackson State University Professor of Political Science, Dr. Leslie-Burl McLemore, who was also a MFDP delegate to Atlantic City in 1964; University of Tennessee Chattanooga Professor of Political Science, Dr. Michelle Donaldson Deardorff; Southwest Minnesota State University Professor of History, Dr. Jeffrey Kolnick; Ohio State University Professor of History, Dr. Tiyi Morris; and Tougaloo College Professor of History and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Daphne Chamberlain. The panel will chart the centrality of the MFDP in the planning and formation of Freedom Summer, set out how the Summer Project played a catalytic and defining role in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, then reflect on the impact of the Voting Rights Act on Mississippi and US politics, and conclude by looking at the retreat from voting rights expansion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision (2013).
The second panel will be made up of civil rights veterans including Dr. Leslie-Burl McLemore, Dr. Joyce Ladner, Rims Barber, MacArthur Cotton, Euvester Simpson, Charles McLaurin, and Jacqueline Byrd Martin. They are all native Mississippians who participated as staff members and volunteers for Freedom Summer, and they all played key roles in supporting the MFDP. They will tell their own stories as part of an ongoing conversation with the earlier panel of scholars. Nothing is more important than hearing the voices of those who made history, and, as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, those voices are becoming fewer and fewer. The panel will be moderated by Jackson State University Professor of History and Director of the Margaret Walker Center and COFO Center, Dr. Robert Luckett.
A luncheon and reception will be held in honor of these veterans, and they will be officially recognized for their contributions.
Schedule:
Panel 1 – 11:00 am
Free boxed lunch – 12:30 pm
Panel 2 – 2:00 pm
Reception and Presentations – 4:00 pm
The entire event is free and open to the public at the COFO Civil Rights Education Center. If you can’t make it in person, the event will be live-streamed on JSU’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jsutv
