During the summer of 1964, over one thousand people, including many
college students went to Mississippi as part of a state wide effort to
register African-American voters and to establish teaching centers that
became known as Freedom Schools.
Participants began their training at a college campus in Ohio. Motivated
by a strong sense of social justice, Tracy Sugarman, an artist and
commercial illustrator from Westport, Connecticut, joined the volunteers
in Ohio and set out to document the people and events of what turned out
to be an historic period. Sugarman joined the freedom riders, and while
somewhat older and more experienced than most of them, was an active
participant throughout.
Sugarman traveled to Mississippi and shared all the experiences of the
workers as well as their fears and anxiety as they were greeted by anger
and violence by many white Mississippians. Sugarman describes and
beautifully illustrates the living conditions, day-to-day activities,
and the interpersonal relationships that developed between the host
families and the visitors.
The author introduces us and vividly portrays many of the important
people in the movement, including Bob Moses and many others, but he also
focuses on the ordinary citizens and hosts.
Other works have set forth the significant events that occurred during
that summer, including especially the Goodman/Schwerner/Chaney murders
that took place in Neshoba County and startled the American public. This
first hand account focuses more on the human experiences and its meaning
for participants. It is an essential source of information about what
Freedom Summer did for those who took part in it and now, with the 50th
anniversary of Freedom Summer, Stranger at the Gates will bring to life
this momentous period for modern readers.
Most of the wonderful illustrations created for the 1966 edition of
Stranger at the Gates have been reproduced here, and as a special bonus,
26 illustrations that were not included in the original book are
included in a gallery of Freedom Summer in brilliant drawings that bring
to life, in Tracy Sugarman's powerful reportorial style, the people and
places of 1964 Mississippi.
