Remembering Freedom Summer 1964 Video: This video is a short introduction to Freedom Summer 1964 and its connection to Western Campus, Oxford Ohio. The video especially aims to provide interest for people to visit the Freedom Summer Memorial, which is located a short walk from the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum at Miami University.
Freedom Summer, also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, was a 1964 voter registration drive sponsored by civil rights organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Aimed at increasing Black voter registration in Mississippi, the Freedom Summer workers included Black Mississippians and hundreds of out-of-state, predominately white volunteers.
Around 800 volunteers were trained in June 1964 at the Western College for Women, now part of Miami University's Western campus. They learned not only how to register Blacks to vote, but to peacefully resist violence that they knew would be encountered in the South. They also set up Freedom Schools, Community Centers and libraries.
Three young civil rights workers — James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner — were murdered in Mississippi soon after leaving Oxford. Miami honors them with the outdoor memorial located just an 8-minute walk from the Art Museum.
Freedom Summer’s legacy has continued in Oxford as it has served as a training ground for politicians, educators, and leaders who continued to engage in social justice and have influenced our country significantly.
CREDITS
The Freedom Summer 1964 photographs by Steve Schapiro presented in this video are digitized from the collection of the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum, and presented courtesy of Steve Schapiro Photography.
Visit the online exhibition for more information on the collection:
www.Tinyurl.com/rccam-freedom-summer
Narration
Miami University Student Body President 2023-24, Nyah Smith ('24)
Editing
Sherri Krazl
David Shuppert
Ryan Singh
Background Music
Title: We Shall Overcome
Arranger: Shelton Ridge Love
Publisher: Beckenhorst Press, Inc.
Singers: Miami University Men's Glee Club
Content acknowledgments
M. Cristina Alcalde
Jack Green
Jacqueline Johnson
Sherri Krazl
Hiram Ramirez
Jason Shaiman
Nataly Wickham
Photograph of Arthur Miller
Alan Mills. Miller Family Manuscript Collection, courtesy of Smith Library of Regional History, Oxford, OH.
Photography of Freedom Summer ‘64 Memorial and Awards
Miami University
Supporting partners
Miami University Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence
Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum
Walter Havighurst Special Collections, the University Archives, and Preservation, Miami University
Dedicated to the Memory of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, and in Honor of the efforts of more than 800 civil rights activists who trained at Western College.
