Despite Everything, Vol. 2 no. 1

Freedom Summer (also known as the Mississippi Summer Project) was a campaign launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi. The project also set up dozens of Freedom Schools, Freedom Houses, and community centers in small towns throughout Mississippi to aid the local Black population. The project was organized by the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of the Mississippi branches of the four major civil rights organizations (SNCC, CORE, NAACP and SCLC). Most of the impetus, leadership, and financing for the Summer Project came from SNCC, which was directed by SNCC field secretary and COFO co-director Robert Parris Moses. Displayed here is the cover of the July 1964 issue of the Berkeley, California, underground publication Despite Everything, which provided an appeal for and commentary on the project.