This latest edition in Triangle Square's For Young People series is a
gripping account of the summer that changed America.
In the summer of 1964, as the Civil Rights movement boiled over, the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sent more than seven
hundred college students to Mississippi to help black Americans already
battling for democracy, their dignity and the right to vote. The
campaign was called "Freedom Summer." But on the evening after
volunteers arrived, three young civil rights workers went missing,
presumed victims of the Ku Klux Klan. The disappearance focused
America's attention on Mississippi. In the days and weeks that followed,
volunteers and local black activists faced intimidation, threats, and
violence from white people who didn't believe African Americans should
have the right to vote. As the summer unfolded, volunteers were arrested
or beaten. Black churches were burned. More Americans came to
Mississippi, including doctors, clergymen, and Martin Luther King. A few
frightened volunteers went home, but the rest stayed on in Mississippi,
teaching in Freedom Schools, registering voters, and living with black
people as equals. Freedom Summer brought out the best and the worst in
America. The story told within these pages is of everyday people
fighting for freedom, a fight that continues today. Freedom Summer for
Young People is a riveting account of a decisive moment in American
history, sure to move and inspire readers.