The Freedom Schools

Jon Hale

Published by Columbia University Press 2016

The Freedom Schools

Student Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

Jon Hale

https://doi.org/10.7312/hale17568

Overview
Contents

About this book

Conducting dozens of interviews and consulting rich archival materials, Jon N. Hale weaves a social history of the Mississippi Freedom Schools from the perspective of former students and teachers. Having turned their training into decades of activism, these individuals speak invaluably on the ideologies that informed their practice and the effectiveness of their locally organized, widely transmitted curriculum. They also offer key strategies for further integrating the American school system and politically engaging today's youth.

Jon N. Hale weaves a social history of the Mississippi Freedom Schools from the perspective of former students and teachers. Having turned their training into decades of activism, they speak on their locally organized, widely transmitted curriculum and offer key strategies for integrating the school system and politically engaging today’s youth.

Author information

Jon N. Hale is an assistant professor of educational history and civil rights at the College of Charleston. He is a coauthor of To Write in the Light of Freedom: The Newspapers of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools (2015).

Reviews

Hale's well-documented chronicle sharply reminds readers that there are still miles to go in obliterating racism, and that there are still stories to be told. Highly recommended.

The narrative reads smoothly and leaves the reader with a greater sense of the hopes, desires, and goals of the [Mississippi Civil Rights] movement.

Derrick Alridge, University of Virginia:
Hale's impressive study will make a major contribution to civil rights historiography. It provides a very realistic view of Freedom Schools with great detail and precision and astutely illustrates the significant role of education in the civil rights movement.

Sonya Ramsey, author of Reading, Writing, and Segregation: A Century of Black Women Teachers in Nashville:
Hale's groundbreaking examination of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's tireless efforts to provide free educational opportunities for Mississippi's African American children is an often overlooked yet instrumental component of the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The Freedom Schools offers a greater understanding of the schools' lasting legacy and the profound impact of the Freedom Schools on Mississippi's black students as they later engaged in boycotts and school walkouts, influencing public school desegregation efforts and the civil rights movement.

Stefan M. Bradley, author of Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s:
Jon N. Hale's work hits the mark! It is accurate and timely in refocusing our attention on the profound power of African American youth and education. The activists and young learners who made the Freedom Schools possible have greatly gone unsung. In the midst of imminent danger, they learned and experienced democracy while illustrating the efficacy of community participation in education. Hale rightly places them at the forefront of the struggle for freedom. His book reminds us of those who saved the nation's soul.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: The Mississippi Freedom Schools Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. “The Pathway from Slavery to Freedom”: The Origins of Education and the Ideology of Liberation in Mississippi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
2. “There Was Something Happening”: The Civil Rights Education and Politicization of the Freedom School Students Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
3. “The Student as a Force for Social Change”: The Politics and Organization of the Mississippi Freedom Schools Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
4. “We Will Walk in the Light of Freedom”: Attending and Teaching in the Freedom Schools Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
5. “We Do Hereby Declare Independence”: Educational Activism and Reconceptualizing Freedom After the Summer Campaign Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
6. Carrying Forth the Struggle: Freedom Schools and Contemporary Educational Policy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Epilogue: Remembering the Freedom Schools Fifty Years Later Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320
Illustrations
- Other: 22 b&w illustrations

eBook

Published: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 9780231541824