Students learn to analyze a personal letter as a primary source.
Students discover what college-aged civil rights workers experienced in Mississippi during the Freedom Movement.
Students think about the relationship between personal action and political movements.
Access to, or copies of, the letter from the Dartmouth college student (Letter, Jailed Dartmouth College student, Adams County Jail, 4 June 1965) Record #61
How does the author portray events, relationships, and self?
What do you think Peter means when he writes, "I'm non-violent to a degree?"
While working in Natchez, Peter advocated for civil rights by using non-violent practices. The violent oppression he experienced probably led to his questioning the non-violent movement and his desire to protect himself by asking his friend to send him a weapon.
Why does the writer sign his letter "Freedom Now"?
"Freedom Now" was a slogan used by people who worked with the nonviolent Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. By signing his letter this way, Peter shows his friend his commitment to the cause and the movement.
Where did this document come from? What was it written on? Was it meant for other people to see it? How does this information affect what the author writes in the letter?
The document was written on toilet paper while Peter was in jail and was meant for his friend. He was probably more open in his letter because he was angry and confiding in a friend.
Despite being in a life threatening situation and being forced to go to prison several times, Peter decided to stay and continue to work for the movement. What motivated Peter to stay in Natchez? Would you have made the same decision?
After the students discuss the letter, each group could pick a Civil Rights organization active in Mississippi around the time Peter wrote the letter from the Adams County Jail. These organizations include SNCC, CORE, COFO, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, NAACP, and the Republic of New Africa. Using our database for primary source documents, the essays available on the website, and other history books, students could research the histories and activities of the organization they picked. After learning about their organization each student could pretend to be a member of that organization and create a personal letter or diary entry about an experience they had working with the organization.
Students could compare Peter's story to that of Anne Moody, a black college student from Mississippi, who wrote about her experiences at Tougaloo College and as part of the Freedom Movement, in her autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi which is widely available in paperback. How do the experiences of college students in the movement differ as a result of region, race, and gender?
The Freedom Now database contains other letters and students could compare this letter to those of other Movement workers. Possible comparisons might include:
Letter, M. A. Phelps to Robert Smith, 20 February 1962 A grass roots organizer wrote to Robert Smith, a businessman, minister and Movement worker in Jackson, Mississppi. On a very personal level this letter expressed the trials, frustrations, and yet persistent hopes characterizing the struggle to register black voters in Mississippi.
Letter, Ms. Annie Rankin, 25 May 1965 Annie Rankin, born in Harrison County, Mississippi in 1933, became active in the Freedom Movement in 1964 when she attempted to integrate a lunch counter in Natchez, Mississippi. Ms. Rankin participated in the March on Washington in 1965 and maintained an extensive correspondence with her "freedom friends" in the North, particularly in Providence, RI. In this letter Ms. Rankin described her everyday struggles and her new project, writing a petition to the Secretary of State explaining that young black men should not be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Throughout this letter, she also expressed her ideas on the term Black Power and her admiration for Stokely Carmichael.
