Freedom Vote

Freedom Vote
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Freedom Vote broadside
Date1963
Location
Mississippi
Caused byDisenfranchisement of African-Americans in Mississippi
Resulted inSubmission of 78,869 ballots

Creation of Freedom Summer

Establishment of Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

The Freedom Vote, also known as the Freedom Ballot, Mississippi Freedom Vote, Freedom Ballot Campaign, or the Mississippi Freedom Ballot, was a 1963 mock election organized in the U.S. state of Mississippi to combat disenfranchisement among African Americans.[1] The effort was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of Mississippi's four most prominent civil rights organizations,[2] with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) taking a leading role.[3]: 231  By the end of the campaign, over 78,000 Mississippians had participated.[4] The Freedom Vote directly led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).[5]

  1. ^ Lawson, William H. (2018-03-29). No Small Thing: The 1963 Mississippi Freedom Vote. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496816368.
  2. ^ "Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference sinsheimerJSH1989 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Over 70,000 Cast Freedom Ballots." The Student Voice, vol. 4, no. 4, The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, November 11, 1963, here Archived 2019-05-26 at the Wayback Machine (Links to an external site.). Freedom Summer Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society, 2014.
  5. ^ "Civil Rights Movement History & Timeline, 1963 (July–December)". www.crmvet.org. Retrieved 2019-06-10.