A Book Review of “Freedom Summer” by Bruce Watson

The fight for civil rights in America had become a long and hard struggle for many years. Many great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, and multiple African-American organizational groups stood out by challenging the common place that was segregation and inequality in America. While most whites turned their heads, others took drastic measures to make sure that African- Americans knew their place in American society, including violence, threats, and hate crimes. What they didn't expect was the incoming flux of whites that believed in equality.

Furthermore they didn't expect them to pack up their things, leave the safety and comfort of their homes ad families, and come down to the most violent part of the South to actually do something about it. In his book Freedom Summer, Watson highlights what happened that fateful summer of 1964. Watson suggests that a great many oppressed and downtrodden citizens with the help of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a couple hundred volunteers white and black "gave America a long-overdue lesson in democracy"(6). He illustrates this by detailing the persistence and tenacity of the volunteers and African-Americans alike despite their fears, as well as their tactics that helped change America.

Watson begins his book by describing the scene of hundreds of eager and excited students African-American and white descending busses and getting out of cars, walking across the great lawn of a college campus in Ohio and getting ready for a long summer. At this time he also takes a chance to include some background information on some of the SNCC members that the students eventually meet. The summer begins with training and information on what is to come in the following weeks.

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To support his thesis, Watson includes victim and witness accounts of beatings, jailing's, arrests, and other violence that happened. He also includes actual quotes from letters written by the volunteers expressing their fear, opinion, or hope for the summer. He emphasizes the fact that the stories scared the volunteers but didn't deter them from their ultimate goal. It sent a few home but the majority stuck to their guns and were determined to get down South and make a difference. He takes the time to introduce his audience to some key members of the movement, and makes sure to describe their individual motivation for joining.

This supports his thesis by showing the audience how important it was that the volunteers didn't let their fear get to them because it could only hurt the movement. They needed to be strong to be able to survive and fight back (nonviolently of course) in MI, learn to use their fear as motivation. Many African-American organizations had the same goals, but each one had different tactics or ways of going about it to achieve them. Some thought violence was answer, others thought picketing and protesting, the differing factor for the SNCC was their approach to challenging the status quo. They knew the ultimate key to equality was being able to vote.

At the time a very high majority of African-Americans could not vote because of the disenfranchisement that whites came up with to keep them from voting including threats, the grandfather clause and literacy tests. This wore the longing to vote down for many African-Americans and they just accepted it as the norm and "white man's" business. They didn't think that their right to vote was as important as keeping food on the table and staying alive. But voting meant a voice, a say in what happened to them and how they were treated. Yes they were free but they were far from equal. So the SNCC's approach was to get more African-Americans registered to vote.

Watson shares how they achieved this by giving examples of the classes they offered at Freedom Schools - renovated shacks that became a place for people of all ages, but especially blacks to come and learn to read and write, learn about black history, basic politics so they can pass the literacy tests, etc. - and how many volunteers jobs were to canvas the black parts of town and get people registered to vote. This supports his thesis by showing how the Freedom Riders - as they came to be called, in reference to those that challenged segregation in interstate travel - achieved their goals without violence and how effective it was.

Government involvement at the time was essentially nonexistent. Federal government set laws but never enforced them, so it was up to the state and local governments. Which basically meant the whites got away with any and everything when it came to crimes against blacks. Whites had the vote so they voted in people that agreed with their views and values. Anything they could do to keep the blacks in their place. Court cases primarily ended with the white defendant being acquitted or dismissed on very minimal charges. Blacks could be arrested and jailed for basically anything with the help of false charges and fake witnesses or even being framed for other crimes that actually happened or didn't.

Everyone turned a blind eye to the moral wrongness of it because it meant that they could keep their way of life where they were superior. Watson shows how the government eventually becomes heavily involved much to the shock and anger of the South fearing a second Reconstruction. Leading with the story of the three missing SNCC members that went down to investigate a bombing of a black church (proposed future site of a Freedom School) in one of the most violent towns in MI, he gradually shows the escalation of panic and determination that achieved government intervention. Watson suggests that the additional help from the government added to the success of the summer movement by actually enforcing the laws and setting clear lines for those that they created for a more equal society.

Overall I believe that Watson did a great job detailing the account of what happened in the summer of 1964. He not only told us what happened, but gave background information to introduce new points. His witness accounts and copies of letters and quotes from some of the involved individuals definitely increased the validity of his account. I believe the way he set up his book was definitely a plus.

Beginning with the description of eager students, transitioning into deeper and somewhat disturbing stories, going further back in the past to set up his next section and sprinkling in more letters and descriptions of people as he introduces them helped to make it less like he was throwing the facts of what happened at us and more of an enjoyable way to learn about the movement. His presentation was very solid. His evidence was in line with his suggested thesis and with his argument that it changed America into an actual democracy.

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