Voter Oppression in the South

On February 28, 1963, a near fatal gun attack against voter registration workers prompted a plethora of organizations to unite in an effort to register as many African Americans as possible. As a result, over 500 African Americans registered to vote in LeFlore county Mississippi, a county that has historically disenfranchised the Black population. The coalition of progressively minded organizations continued to push for both voter registration and a recognition of the racist and oppressive system already present in Mississippi. This unity would eventually blossom into Freedom Summer, a push for the registration of voters throughout the state of Mississippi.

Before this, however, on Sunday March 31st, 1963, the Voter Education Project centered in Atlanta, Georgia crafted a news release that showcased a chronological list of acts of violence and intimidation against African Americans in Mississippi since January of 1961. The Voter Education project, created in 1962, worked to fund voter registration initiatives across the South. Supported by Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and a plethora of other supportive individuals fighting for enfranchisment. Although their methods were met with resistance from unsympathetic white southerners as well as facets of the SNCC, the organization worked to ensure that voter projects were funded. Organizations across the United States worked with the VEP to ensure that the dream of voting rights did not die. 

While the following is not a complete list of every violent act committed in Mississippi, the list does show a pattern of aggression against African Americans in an attempt to limit voting rights. Additionally, the Voter Education Project chose to leave out more well-known events such as the riot at the University of Mississippi and the murder of Emmet Till. These events were intentionally left out to depict that there was a pattern of violence and intimidation well before these major events. The events listed in the news release detail some of the most heinous crimes against African Americans in Mississippi at the time, and the Voter Education project provides gruesome details for each incident. Included in this news release are 64 acts of violence against African Americans from January 1961 to March 1963.

While the news release may be hard to read for any audience, the Voter Education Project intended for these scenes to show exactly what events occurred and to convey the need for justice. Furthermore, the Voter Education project sought to air caution towards voter registration in the South, while emphasizing the need for government action in Mississippi and the greater U.S. South. The VEP would continue to operate until the late 1960s to ensure that voter suppression would not continue in the South, a region that historically disenfranchised African Americans and persons of color. The Voter Education Project also continued to focus their efforts on Mississippi, a state who's hatred towards the freedom of the vote inspired countless protests. 

Works Cited: 

"Voter Education Project Launches." snccdigital.org, Digitical SNCC Gateway, 2017, https://snccdigital.org/events/voter-education-project-launches/.

"Voter Education Project (VEP)." Kinginstitute.stanford.edu, Stanford University, 2019, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/voter-education-project-vep.