Ronald E. McNair Program



Quiana N. Crenshaw
   UNIVERSITY:  Gustavus Adolphus College
   MAJOR:  Individualized Major
   MENTOR:  Dr. James F. Payne
   ORGANIZATIONS:
  • Black Student Organization
  • Students for International Training
  • McNair Scholar

 

ABSTRACT

Memories of the Struggle

Racism in America has existed since the time of slavery.  The greatest forms of racism are evident in the historical and present relationships between the European Americans and the African Americans. For centuries, European Americans (called Whites) have denied African Americans (called Blacks) their basic human rights granted to them by the Constitution of the United States.  Blacks were denied any and all rights that afforded them racial equality.  An extreme form of race discrimination is evident in the events that took place in Mississippi in 1964.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) introduced a voter registration campaign to the Mississippi Delta whose goal was to register eligible Blacks to vote.  As one of the last states to outlaw segregation, White Mississippians resisted all efforts by Blacks to obtain their civil rights.  Whites feared that the allowance of this right would alter their position as the dominant race in Mississippi.  The exercise of this right would provide Blacks the opportunity to not only better their living conditions, but also control the political affairs of the state.  In opposition to such an event Whites used nefarious methods to prevent Blacks from voting.

The memories of the events that took place in 1964 still reside in the minds of those persons present during that time.  Whether they were participants or observers of the movement the struggle for civil equality made a great impression on the mind of both the old and the young.  This living history is one that needs to be explored and documented before those persons present at the time of the struggle cease to exist.  Without the documentation of these events as remembered by those whose lives were effected the study of the civil struggle in Mississippi's history is incomplete, and this is the reason for my research.