Selects: What were the Freedom Schools? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hey everybody happy Saturday I hope you. have your cereal in your bowl and you've. watched some Saturday morning cartoons. and you are in your comfiest chair uh. because the select that I'm picking for. you is a great history episode from. October. 2019 what were the Freedom schools it's. a great story that uh needed to be told. by us and so we did so uh so uh hope you. hope you enjoy it we love our episodes. on uh the Civil Rights era.

and this is a a real good one so check. it out now what were the Freedom. schools welcome to stuff you should know. a production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark and there's Charles W Chuck. Bryant and there's Jerry over there and. I don't know if I said it or not but I'm. Josh Clark and this is stuff you should. know and uh I'm pretty excited about.

this one. freedom freedom schools yeah we would be. the best singing Duo ever if that's how. it worked yeah I would just go big and. you would just Lou read it yeah exactly. is that what I'm doing is Lou reading I. don't even know my own Heritage sort of. speak singing oh okay you know yeah. that's what lri did yeah uh maybe go to. the refrigerator. baby yeah remember that great song had. about the fridge right give me one of.

those frozen snicker bars they're not. the ice cream kind the actual Snicker. bar I put into the freezer right bring. it over here baby that song that's the. one and Nico would go I am placing it in. the freezer was she German uh yeah she. had to be German was she German m i mean. she was if not German Austrian or. something well I'm just saying I didn't. even know I I knew nothing about her. except Nico sat in with the Velvet. Underground for a while and then my.

amazing vocal talents yeah that was good. that's what clued me to the idea that. she was the Germans there's a movie. about her later years that I want to see. that came out this year or something I. think it was called it taken Liam n pler. that's. right so Chuck we're talking about. Freedom schools as we already said and. then we got silly now we're getting back. to it okay that's right because this is. not a silly topic no but and it has a. COA at the beginning should we talk. about that yeah I think we should yeah. so this is about the freedom schools uh. which as you will very soon find out uh.

were in Mississippi during the Civil. Rights Movement I mean like in probably. the most dangerous place in the country. yeah during the most dangerous point in. the Civil Rights Movement that's where. this this story takes place that's right. and freedom schools uh were great and. they were a great thing and we're happy. to be talking about them but uh in a lot. of the quotes and in a lot of the. curriculum of the freedom schools. themselves uh they use the word negro. and it's obviously not a word that. people use anymore but some of the like.

curriculum class titles feature that. word and so just uh letting everyone. know that that's coming right and we're. not going to say we're just going to. read their curriculums and their quotes. as it existed back then yeah I think. this this heads up yeah we're and we. were just kind of sticking to the. vernacular of the times right being used. in context yes within reason of course. sure so um so this this takes place in. the summer of 1964 but I want go back a.

little further than that to. 1954 with the um the groundbreaking sea. changing board Brown versus Board of. Education ruling where the Supreme Court. said you know that that separate but. equal thing that we said back in 1896. was constitutional yeah we're that's not. true segregation is not constitutional. it's not legal anymore everybody needs. to integrate schools at least but they. failed to say and do it by 1964 or 19 60.

or next year they just said I think. something like in a a per like a. deliberate and Speedy manner or. something like that um and so. Mississippi said oh well you didn't tell. us when we had to do it by so how about. never yeah let me just dig my heel in. here and the other one in here and we're. just going to keep our school segregated. and not only segregated Mississippi had. some of the poorest excuses for schools. for African-American students in the. country um the state average for.

Mississippi uh I think in. 1960 was that they spent four times more. on schools for white children than they. did on schools for black children yeah. that was just the state average and some. towns it was way worse you're talking. about budgets spending budgets yeah in. tuna they spent. $172 180 per white pupil on average in. 1962 that's per year that was in that. year per school year yeah.

7280 they spent. $5.99 per black people wow yeah and. that's just kind of how it was like you. went to school in sharecropper schools. or what they were called if you were a. black kid and you were you got a a. terrible education by comparison um. white kids schools usually ran for about. six months out of the year if you were. an African-American kid in Mississippi. your school might run three if if it was. even open that year the rest of the time. you expected to be out in the fields. working and just knowing your place.

basically yeah and you know as you'll. see throughout this podcast those. sharecropper schools uh not only did. they fail them fundamentally on things. like literacy and maths and things like. that but they also failed them. historically because and I think things. have gotten a lot better but one could. make the argument that history classes. still fail right historically in telling. the true picture of some of these things. absolutely but back then it was like at. the sharecropper schools here you're. learning white history and it's it's not. just like this is the important history.

but like this is the only history yours. does not matter exactly yeah um and even. worse than that when they were taught. about their Heritage or whatever it was. usually in relation to slavery and it. was also in relation to how um how black. people preferred to be slaves and that. they were far worse off after the war of. Northern aggression freed them and that. that was they weren't interested in. politics they weren't really. self-starters and they needed white. people to guide them that was the. education you got as a an. African-American kid in Mississippi.

around the time of the Civil Rights. struggle and um by the time 1964 rolled. around there was a lot of agitation. going on in the African-American. Community a lot of people saw hey. there's no integration going on things. have haven't changed at all we're being. kept down by Jim Crow a laws and we're. going to agitate for Change and in. response to that there was a lot of. violence against that agitation for. change from the KKK from State Police.

from local sheriffs from the local. sheriff's redneck brother like you could. get yourself killed just by going to. vote register to vote yeah and uh if the. police were not inciting or committing. the violence themselves they certainly. would turn a blind eye yeah to anything. that was going on exactly and not do. police work so it's in this context. around December of. 1963 that a guy named Robert Moses who. uh was one of the members of I believe. he was with core the uh no I'm sorry he.

was with uh Snick the uh Student. Nonviolent Coordinating Committee um in. Mississippi uh and he said I've got an. idea we're going to call it Freedom. Summer yeah and the Freedom Summer and. by the way big shout out to Dave ruse. big shout out one of our uh stable of. writers these days uh from the old house. stuffwork decom website Dave is helping. us out and boy he does a great job he. does it's always a pleasure y so thanks. Dave but uh yeah the Freedom Summer was.

uh in 1964 and the whole goal of the. Freedom Summer was really to get people. registered to vote uh on mass right that. was the stated goal of it yeah for sure. the subtext of it um John hail wrote a. book on Freedom Summer and freedom. schools which you're going to talk about. and he actually helped Dave out with. this article so shout out to John hail. too but he had a quote from John Lewis. The Great John Lewis um who said. basically the point of Freedom Summer. was to force a show down between local.

authorities and federal authorities. because the local authorities were. abusively enforcing white supremacy and. the Federal in um authorities were. turning a blind eye to it and so they. said we need to we need to put ourselves. invisible Harm's Way and and force a. showdown between these two entities yeah. in 1964 is key uh it wasn't just sort of. picked um randomly it was key because. the Civil Rights Act was going to be. signed in July of that year uh but it.

did not include uh black voting rights. protection and uh the Democratic. National Convention was going to be at. the end of August of that year in. Atlantic City and this is basically like. let's get uh black folks registered to. vote so they can go in there and unseat. these dixie crats right these Southern. Democrats who are still very much. segregationist in Mississippi there for. the for the Democratic Convention their. delegation the Mississippi delegation. was all white yeah and that was another. big big goal was to create a separate.

black delegation uh for that National. Convention right so to get this to force. the showdown between local authorities. and federal authorities the the the. Civil Rights activists like Robert Moses. working in Mississippi had zero. illusions that that the federal. government was going to come down and. help them out no matter what they were. doing yeah instead they would be forced. to act if white northern kids the. children of these Federal authorities.

came down to Mississippi and put. themselves In Harm's Way too yeah kids. meaning you know college students right. right kid kids to Old Folks like us. right exactly youngsters but they. weren't sending down like 12year olds no. no no nothing like that but like college. students who wanted to come down and. help people who truly believed in the. cause of civil rights yeah white liberal. Progressive Northern uh often times. Jewish uh but not always but as far as. getting the federal authorities to pay. attention that first descriptor is the. most important one white yes because.

again they knew in Mississippi no. federal authorities were going to pay. attention to that and I mean they had. good reason to think that Kennedy had. the Civil Rights act as far back as 1960. but agreed not to bring it up in. Congress because they were still trying. to figure out how to keep the dixie. crats happy and maybe get some sort of. integration going or civil rights going. and um they've just been left hung out. to dry by the federal authorities so. many times that they were totally right. in that assumption yeah and they knew. that in order to really affect change um.

like you said they were going to get no. assistance from the federal government. so they need to do it on the ground. Grassroots style um and what they were. really looking toward was the future and. they knew that getting kids involved was. the key and the only way to do that or. they figured the best way to do that and. I think they were right was to devise. what was called the freedom schools. right in the summer of 1964 which ended. up being 41 summer schools Community. Based Summer Schools where uh they had.

core curriculums for sure but what they. really were trying to do was teach young. black kids about their history and their. self-worth and uh give them a path. forward in the United States yeah with a. voice like give them an education that. they couldn't find anywhere in those. sharecropper schools where the. sharecropper schools point was to keep. them down uneducated and out of politics. so that they couldn't vote um these. Freedom schools Were Meant to do the ex. exact opposite to teach them their.

selfworth but also to say like here's. how you can actually enact change and to. create the next generation of civil. rights activists in Mississippi that was. the point of the Freedom School yeah and. like it was hitting me as I was reading. this how Progressive that was for 1964. because that would be Progressive now. right in places like even Georgia I. absolutely and it's still going on now. as we'll see like the the uh children's. defense fund revived the freedom schools. back in the 80s and I think they still. have. and it does still have a tinge of.

subversion sadly teaching black kids in. America their selfworth yeah that's. that's sad all right that's a great. Preamble should we take a. break all right we are going to take a. break and we're going to come back and. really dig into the mission of the. freedom schools right after. [Music]. this CH. and all the stop you should know.

[Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. okay so Freedom schools uh again. launched and proposed by SNCC Snick. Snick Snick leader Charlie Cobb uh in. December 63 and they had three the. original idea was let's get 11th and. 12th grade MH because they're just on.

the cusp of being in you know in the. real world um arguably already were in. the real world yeah you know what I'm. saying sure uh and they had three stated. purposes that they wanted to accomplish. uh supplement what they aren't learning. in high school yeah simple enough uh. number two give them a broad. intellectual and academic experience. during the summertime to bring back uh. to students in the classrooms I guess in. the fall yeah and then form the basis. for Statewide student action like here's. how you can boycott something here's how.

you can raise awareness right like teach. them how to be Grassroots activists and. also one of the things that they they've. wanted to teach them that will see is. this is how things work like here's the. nuts and bolts of this power structure. that we live in that holds us down and. here understanding how it works you can. start to poke around and figure out how. to overcome that that was a huge huge. part of it that's right. so it all starts with volunteers right. and these like we said are mainly.

college students uh they saw this by way. of uh ads in the New York Times and. other groups and college campuses that. basically said hey this is what we want. to do you've been watching this on TV. every night um I know that you might. live in Manhattan or Brooklyn or. someplace but uh if you are a young. white liberal Progressive and you really. want to make a difference get off your. couch and come down to Mississippi for. the summer sure endanger your life yeah. and help teach these kids yeah and I I.

think something like a thousand I saw. like as much as. 2500 there a bunch of people answered. this call um like Northern mostly white. college students came down to. Mississippi for this Freedom Summer not. just the freedom schools yeah yeah I. think 280 of them uh ended up being. teachers out of about 700 or so who. volunteered for the Freedom Summer yeah. and I I've heard different stories on. how the people who got selected to be. teachers for the freedom schools were.

selected this article makes it sound. like um the The Greener ones the ones. who really shouldn't be put In Harm's. Way were assigned to the freedom schools. but from what I've read they were very. much In Harm's Way as being teachers of. these Freedom schools yeah but. regardless of of who got assigned to. become a uh a freedom school teacher or. why they were told you're going to have. to pay your way to and from Mississippi. m M you're going to have to pay your own. room and board so expect to to have to.

Shell out over 200 bucks or up to 200. bucks over the course of the summer yeah. it also said they would uh live. basically in the homes of local black. families I wonder if they paid them rent. I don't know if they paid them rent but. the black families who did put these. white northern college students up over. the summer to teach Freedom schools very. much put their own families and homes In. Harm's Way because the freedom and. actually the whole Freedom Summer.

volunteers who came down they didn't. take Mississippi by surprise the white. power establishment in Mississippi knew. they were coming and they were very. unhappy about this they said publicly. that these people would be treated as. Invaders that this was a a second war of. Northern aggression they doubled the. number of Highway Patrol officers and. not to keep the peace um they they they. knew they were coming down and they were. not happy about these Freedom schools or. the Freedom Summer in general yeah and I. guess we should go ahead and say right. off the bat to add gravity to the.

situation and there may be a short stuff. in here I've been wanting to do one on. The Disappearance of these three men but. uh the core training crew Congress of. racial equality was core and uh they. were helping out with the freedom rides. in the early 60s on the buses in Selma. in the Deep South and there were uh. three gentleman Andrew Goodman and. Michael schner two white men and another. colleague James Cheney a young black man. that worked with core they went missing.

um in Longdale Mississippi and were. basically taken and murdered so this is. at the very this is before a few months. before the freedom schools were to. launch and you're going down there. knowing that these men disappeared under. mysterious circumstances I'm pretty sure. it was like a week before basically. because it happened like they got the. news during the orientation in Oxford. Ohio that they held for the Freedom. School teachers the news came through. that these three guys had gone missing. and then were later found murdered and.

some people did back out and were like I. can't take this risk but it seems like. most of them pressed on right yeah. absolutely and I think some people's um. resolve was doubled by that kind of. thing too but their disappearance and. ultimately their deaths proved that idea. that these the Civil Rights activists in. Mississippi needed these white northern. volunteers to come down because James. Cheney he was a local uh Mississippi. activists he was a black guy and um.

schwarner Michael schwarner and Goodman. Goodman both of them were white and. because they went missing along with. Cheney 150 FBI agents and 200 what are. Sailors from the local Naval Station. showed up sure showed up to search for. these guys yeah and Michael scher's. Widow said this never would have. happened if if my husband had been a. black man that all this was happening. because he was white uh I do want to. there's this is rif with a lot of quotes.

that a lot of them were not going to. read but I did want to read this one. from Howard Zen uh this is the message. at this orientation that you talked. about at the Western College for women. in Oxford so you're showing up you're. like I want to volunteer I want to do. the right thing they sit you down in an. auditorium and say this you'll arrive in. rville which is a place in Mississippi. ruville in the Delta it will be 100°. you'll be sweaty and dirty you won't be. able to bathe often or sleep well eat. good food I don't know about that I bet.

that was some pretty decent food that. kind of stuck out to me too Howard's in. M it not have thought so uh the first. day of school there maybe four teachers. and three students uh and the local. negro Minister will phone you to say you. can't use his church basement after all. because his life has been threatened and. the curriculum uh We've drawn up um. negro history and American government. may be something you know only a little. about yourself well you'll knock on. doors all day in the hot sun to find. students you'll meet on someone's lawn. under a tree you'll tear up the. curriculum and teach what you know and.

it seems like that's really kind of what. happened it was very precent yeah I. don't know if that quote was long after. and him describing it but if that's what. they told them at orientation before the. freedom schools then yeah that's exactly. how it ended up and how many I think. originally they were going to Target. like I said 11th and 12th graders 20. schools about a thousand students right. but when you know when school day. started parents heard about this and. brought everybody basically they did. something like I've seen as much as 2500.

but um at least 2,000 students were. enrolled in Freedom schools in. Mississippi this summer yeah and they. doubled the number of schools plus one. to 41 to 41 some I think Hattisburg had. six different schools Meridian had a. school with 200 200 students that was. the biggest one um it was and they. originally intended like you said 11th. and 12th graders maybe as young as. middle like middle schoolers possibly. but really that was it and it ended up.

being elementary school kids I believe. there's an 80-year-old enrolled at one. of the freedom schools um and it it just. became a sensation in Mississippi among. the African-American Community um and. there was a there was a New York Times. article they sent a reporter down to. kind of cover this and they the reporter. was in Holly Springs and there was a. school teacher from Chicago named Aviva. futoran and she said probably like are. you from outer space right kind of.

sounds like it the silver jumpsuit she. was wearing didn't help but um she said. that they they were teaching under a. sweet gum tree and this became kind of. like a that that was another reason why. that Oxford quote from Howard Z was so. prean is like a lot of times like they. didn't have any place to actually meet. they had to meet outside or on. somebody's front porch or something like. that cuz someone might say like he said. in the in the quote like hey use my. church BAS. but then when the KKK found out they're.

you know they may burn a cross at in. that churchard and then that preacher. has to say I'm sorry I can't take the. risk well so you know schwarner and. Cheney and Goodman when they went when. they were murdered kidnapped and. murdered they were investigating the. burning of the church that they were. going to be holding their freedom school. that's what they were doing down there. and they went to go find out what. happened and that's when they went. missing yeah so message sent loud and. clear yeah so school is outside which is. every kid's favorite thing right and. then we as we'll see there was another.

there was at least one school that got. firebombed and burned to the ground yeah. after school had already started uh I. don't think any it was like after hours. right but the next day the um School met. in the like yard next to this burndown. building that they've been meeting in. the day before yeah pretty amazing yeah. so there was a lot of I mean this wasn't. just going to school there were oh yeah. there's a whole state full of white. people. who violent did not want you to be. learning this stuff yeah they were just.

as organized on you know the defense of. this right or I guess the offense which. would that be uh they weren't defending. it no to go on the offensive sure I just. got mixed up in my head yeah you got it. finally all right so uh in the spring of. 1964 they met and they were like uh. listen we need to get a curriculum. together because this is a real school. they're going to tear it up but we're. going we're going to get it down at. least uh and the final one in had.

sections for like I said Reading Writing. arithmetic the three Rs and science but. the bulk of it was um what they called. citizen curriculum citizenship. curriculum right uh which is basically. like African American Civics which they. had never heard of right and never. learned yeah like I I I'm sure parents. told them stories and stuff but as far. as going to school they had never. encountered anything like this before. well I mean depending on the age of. their parents too their parents might. have never heard anything like that. before either that's a good point um so.

there was the citizenship curriculum was. broken into seven units and it each one. built upon the last unit right it was. meant to basically say here's the status. quo here's what's wrong with the status. quo here's how to change to the status. quo or basically the three buckets you. could put everything in right and um the. one I haven't read all of them but I. went and read the fourth one called the. power structure unit four mhm and I. would strongly recommend I think um the.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating. committee's digital archive has it like. digitized yeah that's the one you sent. me right yeah but go read it it's called. Unit 4 introducing the power structure. and it it it. explains how and. why uh white people are taught to be. afraid uh of and hate black people how. black people are taught that they're. inferior and that the reason behind the.

whole thing is money and profits yeah. and that all of the racism and hatred. and fear and crime and all of that stuff. is all just window dressing around this. power structure that's meant to keep. people surval and available for cheap. labor so that some people can profit. more off of their work yeah it's the. most disgusting thing I've ever read but. it's also one of the most eye openening. and it was designed. for 11th and 12th graders to back in the.

60s and it still brings 100% true today. yeah the one that I'm going to dig in. and read I didn't have time but uh. number six uh material things and soul. things yeah so this is almost the last. one um on the citizenship curriculum. units uh and that is that black people. will not achieve true Freedom by trying. to acquire more stuff but by using their. insights about oppression to create a. new new kind of society and I think. that's so important in these in this.

curriculum it's like we're not trying to. teach you like hey go out there and uh. try and gain status in society so you. can get a bigger house right or or. things that you see that these white. people have right which I'm sure was you. know you covet things that's what people. do so I'm sure that was a natural. inclination like I want the stuff that. they have but uh it's so important to. say like that the stuff isn't what. matters well not only just stuff General. but there's they kind of walk the. students through it in this curriculum.

where they say like what are some things. that white people have that you don't. have that you wish you had what are some. things white people have that you don't. want um and what the the the purpose of. this curriculum wasn't to teach black. kids to hate white kids no as a matter. of fact it actually teaches them to. understand white people more yeah let me. read you this quote from this unit four. we have learned that although it seems. that white people have better schools. for instance that they pay for it by. learning lies and by learning to hate.

and be afraid we have learned that we. are misled by these lies too that the. myths have taught us to believe that we. are inferior and dumb and that we have. made no contributions to society wow so. it's just it's saying like don't hate. white people they're they're being duped. by this too right but they're they're. PSIs in this power structure too they. just happen to not be the the group. that's being stepped on right you know. but they're still being used abused yeah. school children in particular uh for.

context um and well it's interesting too. when you just talked about like uh they. wanted the same uh things not. necessarily stuff as the white students. yeah one of the most popular classes cuz. you know they they would get in there. and say this is what I want to learn and. that's the whole part about tearing up. the curriculum right one of the most. popular uh subjects in one of these. schools um was French and they wanted to. learn French because they knew white. kids had a French teacher mhm like. something as innocuous as that like I.

want to learn French too right and I. mean that was the point in schools not. just like sit down and shut up and. listen this is what we're here to teach. you it was what do you want to learn. yeah what are you guys going to feel. good about yourselves for knowing that. you came you didn't know when you came. in here and so teaching in the freedom. schools that summer was super. improvisational and spontaneous. collaborative they really did tear up. the curriculum in a lot of a lot of. cases um sounds like a good model for. schools period yeah it sounds like one. of those like Waldorf schools or a Monas.

school or something like that it sounds. very much like one of those child yeah. yeah um but that I mean that was that. was the point was to not to to drill. them with what the adults thought they. should learn but to to raise up their. self-worth and self-esteem and whatever. that took is what they taught them yeah. and it's cool that they didn't um not. only were they concerned about Civics. and the core academics but something. that could have very easily been pushed. to the side side is uh creative Pursuits.

right and they really embraced that cuz. they found that these students uh were. natural poets and really eager to get in. there and read and write poetry um they. read Robert Frost and Langston Hughes. and gertude Stein and wrote a lot of. poetry themselves some of it is just. heartbreaking some of it inspiring some. of it both um there was one school in. Hattisburg. Mississippi uh Freedom School students. of St John's Methodist Church they wrote. their own DEC of Independence MH and. it's it's all in here in this article we.

can't go through the whole thing but I. encourage you to like read this thing in. full it's really hey like advanced stuff. it really is um there are also. newspapers were really big at the. freedom schools Al and they qualified as. alternative newspapers and that guy John. hail the professor from South Carolina. who wrote the book on freedom schools. literally literally he says that um in. Mississippi that summer the Freedom. School student run newspapers were the. biggest source of civil rights news in.

the entire State aming and that they. were the states first taste of. alternative news ever but that like. almost all of the 41 schools had their. own newspapers and in some communities. that's that's how some adults were. learning what they needed to do to go. register to vote by reading it in the. student run Freedom School newspaper. yeah I was a newspaper staffer I think. you were too probably right sure or were. you just starting your own papers sure. but I was a newspaper staffer in high.

school and there's something about like. putting together a publication that even. I've seen little kids uh doing for fun. and I remember doing for fun so it's it. doesn't surprise me that like that the. newspaper was every school had their own. and it seems like they were really. really into it I could see your your. little family newspaper you're like. extra extra Mom puts too much hot sauce. on eggs this morning they ruin well it. it's on my mind because I just got back. from vacation and uh we went with 1 two.

three four older girls plus my younger. daughter and they did a uh the beach. blotter they put together their own. little magazine for the week and I just. remember I'm like man kids are just. drawn to putting together newspapers and. magazines yeah and these kids in the. freedom schools leapt at the chance uh. to interview people and to you know be. Little Cub reporters and type this stuff. up they were really big on taking typing. classes because that would lead to work. obviously later on as well um I just. thought it was really kind of a cool.

part of this whole thing yeah I know. it's super cool uh as was the theater uh. there was a traveling group called The. free Southern theater that would perform. a play called in White America uh and. they would go around to Freedom schools. and perform this play right and there. were music groups uh the great great. folk singer and activist Pete Seager. went down there of course and toured the. freedom schools yeah I was like here's. how you play a g- chord and sing about. like things that matter right pretty. great why don't you should go on over to. the fridge give me a Frozen Snicker bar.

no no no I don't even like frozen. Snickers that's the big reveal at the. end of the song but you know Lou Reed. does sure or did yeah rip so should we. take another break yeah okay we're going. to take a break everybody so sit tight. and we'll be right. [Music]. back all the stop you should know. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. so like I said Chuck this experiment in. pushing Mississippi into the Civil. Rights era was not well received by the. white power establishment and I think it. kind of varied from one Community to. another uh and but I none none of of. them were happy from what I understand. and the ones that were unhappiest with.

the freedom schools were very very. violent um in retaliation for these. things this one summer this Freedom. Summer lasted 10 weeks I think the. freedom schools lasted six weeks but the. Freedom Summer itself lasted 10 weeks. and in that 10- we period 30 homes of of. black residents 37 black churches were. firebombed yeah in one summer in. Mississippi um demonstrators were shot. at 35 different times by the.

police okay um 80 volunteers were. attacked or beaten by white mobs or. police officers there were six known. murders that summer related to the. Freedom Summer and um female volunteers. were um sexually assaulted yeah it was a. really violent dangerous place to be. doing what they were doing at the time. yeah that was uh there was one town mome. Mississippi there were more than a dozen. bombings in two months more than 12.

bombings in a two-month period 12 and a. half uh and there were uh they were. called the bombing capital of the world. at the time again local police turning a. blind eye I get the impression that like. they actually qualified as the bombing. capital of the world yeah it wasn't just. a right thing written in a Freedom. School paper right it wasn't like an. off-handed comment like they may have. qualified as the bombing capital of the. world yeah it's crazy. and even if there wasn't like direct. violence there was indirect violence.

intimidation intimidation people would. probably drive by and uh say the worst. things right exactly so um it was not a. it was a struggle to just make it. through the summer yeah um but they did. as a matter of fact and one of the goals. of this um Freedom schools was to create. or help get the Mississippi Democratic. Freedom Party the antidote to the dixie. crats in Mississippi um seated at the. Democratic National Convention and um.

they they attempted to do that and. actually got a a meeting at the. credentials Committee of the DNC but. were ultimately turned down yeah they. had delegates this is just amazing they. had delegates from all 41 of these. schools and they met at a Statewide. convention in Meridian Mississippi MH um. a place I have been through on a. Greyhound bus wow that's a country song. motion right there for sure that was a. place where they stopped us and the drug.

dogs got on oh gotcha in Meridian huh. yeah and I was like oh interesting I. never thought about Greyhound buses is. probably a great way to transport drugs. sure but probably not hey uh speaking of. country music have you seen that Kim. Burns documentary not yet I've heard. it's great oh my is it good I'm in. country music. now well I saw your Dixie Chicks tattoo. on your neck so I wonder what that was. all about it's just pen right now I. haven't I haven't pulled the trigger all. the way okay yeah I'm looking forward to. seeing that it's good so uh they wrote.

these these kids these delegates went. down there they wrote their own. political platform for the uh. mfdp and it was it's amazing like these. are kids that in six weeks time went. from just uh basically having no hope. whatsoever to fully forming a delegation. and and writing uh their own political. platform and presenting it in public. right and it wasn't wasn't like hey. let's get these kids seed at the DNC. like the Mississippi Democratic Freedom.

Party was made up of adult activists but. the the um kids from the freedom schools. helped write their platform yeah um they. also formed from this delegation that. met at the end of the summer the. Mississippi student union and this. actually brought to fruition one of the. other stated goals of Freedom schools. which was creating the next generation. of activists right because when Freedom. school was over and um sharecropper. schools started back again right or even. integrated schools around the state all.

of a sudden there were kids wearing like. one man one vote buttons which could get. you expelled and actually did get some. kids expelled but there were like little. civil rights activists showing up to. school aware now of the situation they. were dealing with and ready to take it. on yeah 25 of them uh volunteered to be. the first to desegregate their local. high schools yeah so that call comes out. like we have to desegregate um who's. going to be the one I know just the. people to walk in there and 25 of these.

uh graduates of the freedom schools did. so yep um so it was a it was a big deal. I mean they they managed to create um. the the the next generation of activist. leaders but one of the. other kind of the through lines of the. Civil Rights struggle during this time. and of the freedom schools themselves. was the idea that if you had I think the. quote was um if you have strong people. or no strong people don't need strong.

leaders right and a civil rights. activist named Ella Baker said that and. the point was like if you teach. everybody how to how to how to struggle. for themselves how to fight for. themselves how to stand up for. themselves you don't have to wait around. for a Martin a once in a you know. handful of generations person like. Martin Luther King Jr to come along and. lead the way the people can lead the way. themselves and that was one of the. things that they were doing with the. freedom schools not just trying to come. up with like the next leaders they. needed leaders sure but also to make.

everybody who came through the Freedom. School like aware and ready for action. so one of the sad um sad legacies was. you we said at the beginning that what. they wanted to do was one of their big. goals was to seat the Mississippi. Freedom Democratic party at that 64. convention in August and they won a. public hearing which was a big win in. and of itself with the DNC committee. that was broadcast on live TV. uh the Widow of Michael schwarner showed. up to talk uh Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

showed up to talk and the last one and. this is just very sad and shameful uh. the last speaker and they said uh Dave. describes her as the most dangerous to. that Democratic establishment was a. former sharecropper named Fanny Lou hamr. did you see her testimony yeah she was. Brave as they come she was as Brave as. they come but Brave and pissed yeah but. but her testimony was. interrupted uh on national TV by.

President Lyndon Johnson he called an. impromptu press conference in the middle. of her testimony so all the TV breaks. away of course because the president has. a press conference they need to get to. right and everyone was thinking all. right this is big news he's going to. announce his VP pick uh for the 64. election or something like that and he. basically got on TV and sort of ad. libbed uh had today is the 9month. anniversary of the assassination of JFK. yeah and uh black people all around the. country and white liberal progressives. are going what's a 9month anniversary.

right like are you kidding me not just. liberals and and um civil rights. activists but the the news too saw right. through it oh sure and it actually. backfired because Johnson interrupting. Fanny L HR became news itself yeah and. so Fanny L hamer's testimony stayed on. the news for days afterward got way more. exposure because of Johnson's clumsy. hamfisted attempt yeah and the reason. why heard testimony in the idea of a. Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party was.

a um it was a threat to the to the. Democrats was. because if you got rid of the dixie. crats if you forced integration on the. south yeah you're were going to lose the. solid South the South had always voted. Democrats because they hated the. Republicans because the Republicans were. the party of Lincoln who forced. reconstruction on them right so. reconstruction comes along and all of. the southerners went Democrat and they. formed the dixie crats right right well. when Johnson signed the civil rights. amendment in.

1965 he said to an aid uh we just handed. the South to the Republicans for a very. long time yeah and it's still the case. yep still today you are hardpressed to. find a county in the South that's blue. they're all red yeah well that's not. quite true but no it's 100% true but it. but I mean okay let me put it this way. Atlanta's as blue as blue gets the major. but how many atlantas are there in the. South no that's I'm saying it you know. like anywhere else the urban centers. sure uh are are where the blues are but.

I mean like the north the northern and. southern suburbs they're all red yeah I. mean Atlanta's like a little island of. blue and a thing of red yeah it's just. weird to think that that's the legacy of. of this this time still yeah yeah so uh. some of these students ended up to um go. on and do great great things I think. dare I say many of them went on to do. great things on a small smaller scale. but some were sort of known nationally. uh and were Pioneers in the black.

community uh one man Eddie James carthan. he was the first black mayor uh in the. Mississippi Delta MH um very very big. deal he was elected mayor at the age of. 28 which I mean back then though 28 was. like 50 today really sure you know. aging's really regressed since since. then and we talked earlier about the. fact that uh these these schools. continue. um they only operated in 1964 but a few.

of them were transformed into Freedom. centers and they were meeting places uh. for the Mississippi Student Union they. were uh community meeting places. educational resources uh kindergartens. would go there during the day they would. have adult classes at night and in the. 1980s is when the children's defense. fund created its own version of the. freedom schools all those years later. and they Now operate in 87 cities across. 28 States states with their main focus. being uh literacy yeah is pretty great.

but they still honor their African. Heritage because the school day begins. with uh a harami traditional African wel. welcoming celebration with songs and. chants that goes a little something like. go on over to the. fridge have you noticed like it's kind. of transformed into singing it was. talking before you're ditching your L. reedness I guess so I've out growing. them uh well if you want to know more. about freedom schools there's a lot of. it archived out there on the internet uh. and you could do a lot worse than.

starting out at the student non-violent. coordinating committee's digital. archives they've got a lot of cool stuff. on there um it's just really really well. done nice short Punchy articles that. link to the next thing and the next. thing and just make you want to keep. reading um well since I said Student. Nonviolent Coordinating Committee it's. time for a listener. man so this was the uh this is the. gentleman who wrote in we had a few. people that wrote in trying to explain. our confusion on due process oh is this.

the guy I like okay good which uh which. one was that in that was in uh it was in. paraphilia paraphilia cuz we were. talking about like people going to. prison for gay sex that's right in their. own home right consenting in Texas in. the 21st century and this is from Keith. from Philadelphia uh not a con law. professor guys just a law student but I. thought I could help clear this up in. the Lawrence V Texas due process point. due process is essentially broken up. into two prongs procedural.

procedural that's the little threeway. procedural and. substantive did I say that right. substantive procedural due process is. exactly what Josh was talking about. provides you uh notice um an opportunity. to be heard before rights are taken away. from you substantive due process is what. the court was referring to in Lawrence. con concept is somewhat complicated but. simply stated uh substantive due process. just means certain rights that are so.

fundamental uh that no amount of process. or procedure could uh ever legitimately. deprive you of them in other words. consenting adults have such a. fundamental right to privacy behind. closed doors that to punish them for. having consensual sex will violate their. due process rights no matter how much. procedure they are afforded got it I. mean that is as clear as Bell as clear. as Bell future future law professor I'm. losing it here yeah thank you Keith from. Philly thank you Keith that was a I mean.

I I emailed him immediately was like a. lot of people have written in thanks to. everybody wrote in and gave it a shot um. but I emailed him back and was like. Keith this is the first one I've fully. gotten yeah Keith and I think if you. stroll on over to your refrigerator you. will find a frozen Snicker bar waiting. on you cuz We snuck into your home in. the middle of the night whereas chuck. would say a frozen one uh if you want to. get in touch with us like Keith did you. can go go on to stuff you should. know.com and check out our Social Links. or you can send us a good oldfashioned.

email wrap it up spank it on the bottom. maybe uh send it along with the Frozen. Snicker bar to stuff podcast. iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite. [Music]. shows.