Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer in Mississippi. Join us in our online Freedom School and become empowered
Hiram Rhodes Revels, born in North Carolina, in 1827 would go on to be the first African-American in the US Senate in 1870. Before that he travelled extensively as a pastor and organizer of negro troops for the Union Army. He later settled in Natchez, Mississippi, and became alderman there. Soon after, Revels was elected to the Mississippi State Senate. He was elected by the members of the Mississippi State Senate to serve as a US Senator in Washington D.C. After his political career, Revels later became president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, Now Alcorn State University, a historically black college.
After the Civil War, America found itself in a period known as Reconstruction. During this time, former slaves were free to live their lives as Americans. Some served in public office and voted. Mississippi was home to the first African-American US Senator, Hiram Revels, and later Blache K. Bruce. They were the first two African-Americans elected to the US Senate. Some people resented the idea that former slaves would now be considered equals to their white counterparts. African-Americans were eventually terrorized by organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and held back by Black Codes, or laws passed at the state and local level to keep African-Americans “in their place”. Soon after, the progress made across the American south, in particular, Mississippi, was reversed. Segregation was the norm. By 1961, almost 100 years after Reconstruction, there was a drive to make America live up to its promise afforded by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. This momentum led to what was later called, Freedom Summer. The test was in Mississippi because despite earlier progress, Mississippi now was one of the worse states on record for African-American disenfranchisement. In other words, African-Americans made up a large part of the population in rural Mississippi, but many could not vote due to intimidation, poll taxes, and literacy tests.
Born into slavery in Virginia in 1841, Blanche Kelso Bruce, fled slavery by fleeing to Kansas. After slavery ended, he moved to Missouri and founded a school for black children. Later, he moved to Mississippi and began studying politics. He purchased and owned land in Mississippi making him wealthy. He was elected to the US Senate in 1871, after Hiram Revels’ term which lasted a little over a year. In 1880 Bruce won 8 votes for Vice President during the Republican Nation Convention in Chicago.
What in the World does The US Constitution Have To Do With Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964?
According to the United States Senate web site, the U.S. Constitution, “…is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government.” It goes on to explain the idea that its first three words, “We The People” refers to the citizens of the United States. The constitution is also explained as the “Supreme Law of the Land”. So, it is the supreme law of the land that was constructed to serve the people of the United States of America. This law has been in place for over 200 years.
Although they professed to the equalities of humans, neither the Declaration of Independence, nor the US Constitution protected American Blacks, free or enslaved. There were blacks who were free, living as citizens within the confines of the United States, both North and South. There were free Blacks who owned slaves up north and down south, but the term, Black American Citizen was not referred to. Why? Why would it be necessary in a country where all men are created equal?
Chattel slavery across the Southern American landscape reduced Black people to property, just like a house, a horse, or a table and chair. Slaves were not citizens; slaves could not vote; their livelihoods were not protected by law.
After the Civil War, during Reconstruction, the so-called Reconstruction Amendments were passed in Congress. They were the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. During this time, under the protection of federal troops in the south, in particular, Mississippi, newly freed black citizens exercised their right to vote. Also, during this time, there were record numbers of black elected officials serving in public offices across the state of Mississippi and serving in Washington, D.C., representing the people of Mississippi. Afterall, Black Mississippians were a large population prior to and during Reconstruction. Electing black officials, many being former slaves, to elected office demonstrated the power of the vote.
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