Representatives from the Mississippi Secretary of State's office, UM Voting Engagement Ambassadors, UM Voting Coalition, Center for Community Engagement and other agencies assist during National Voter Registration Day at the University of Mississippi in 2023. A Voting Summit is scheduled March 19-23 on campus, in Oxford and in Philadelphia. Submitted photo
Weeklong event includes discussions, tours and voter registration
The University of Mississippi will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Summer Project in Mississippi during the 2024 annual Voting Summit.
Scheduled for March 19-23, 2024, the event will focus on examining history and registering new voters. Activities include screenings, panel discussions and voter registration drives for UM students, staff, faculty and community members. Admission is free, but participants must register to attend some events.
“We’re quite excited about our schedule of events,” said William Teer, assistant director of student leadership programs in the UM Center for Community Engagement. “Our team has been working hard organizing this year’s voting summit, which is thematically tied to the 60th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer.”
“Freedom Summer” was a tumultuous time in American civil and voting rights history. Hundreds of volunteers, most of them college students, organized in Mississippi during the summer of 1964 to increase awareness and voter registration in the African American community.
“In the face of violence, even death, these young people fought for greater access to the ballot for all Americans,” Teer said. “Now, 60 years later, we look to the past to better understand our present and how we can all learn from the important legacy of Freedom Summer.”
Events scheduled include:
- March 19 – Screening and panel discussion: “Neshoba: The Price of Freedom,” 6 p.m., Powerhouse Community Arts Center, co-sponsored by OxFilm. Panel discussion moderated by Castel Sweet, director of the UM Center for Community Engagement, with panelist Leroy Clemmons, executive director of the Neshoba County Youth Coalition.
- March 20 – Panel discussion: “Continuing the Legacy of Freedom Summer,” 5 p.m., Barnard Observatory, Tupelo Room, co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Moderated by W. Ralph Eubanks, author and faculty fellow with the center. Panelists include LaToysha Brown, executive director of the Freedom Project Network; MacArthur Cotton, Freedom Summer veteran and board member with the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Inc.; Margaret Kibbee, Freedom Summer veteran and secretary for the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Inc.; Karanja Matory, policy and research analyst at Mississippi Votes; Markyel Pittman, youth civic engagement coordinator at Mississippi Votes.
- March 21 – Leadership luncheon: “Are You Ready to Vote?” noon, Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union, Room 124. A free lunch is included for all who register.
- March 22 – Voting Rights Trivia Night, 5:30 p.m., Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, great room. Free pizza and prizes included.
- March 23 – Day trip to Philadelphia, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Clemmons will lead a tour around Philadelphia, home to Freedom Summer events including the murders of activists James Cheney, Michael Schwermer and Andrew Goodman. This event includes a $25 fee; reservations are strongly encouraged by Friday (March 8). Payments are due March 15. Scholarships are available. Contact Teer at wteer1@olemiss.edu for more info.
“This year’s voting summit seeks to educate, inspire and inform the LOU community on the 60th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer and lessons learned today,” said Haley Lutz, graduate assistant for student leadership programs. “All LOU community members are invited to join us in commemorating the legacy of Freedom Summer.”
For assistance related to a disability, contact the Center for Community Engagement at 662-915-3196 or umvotes@olemiss.edu.
This year’s event follows the inaugural Voting Summit in 2022, originally conceived by Ole Miss students Katelyn Winstead and Caroline Leonard in 2020. Winstead and Leonard had recently been named as campus ambassadors for the national Andrew Goodman Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes voter education and youth leadership development.
The summit is sponsored by the university’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Center for Community Engagement, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Voting Engagement Ambassadors, Voting Engagement Roundtable committee, Associated Student Body, Voting Coalition and Honors College Minority Engagement Council, and the Oxford Film Festival and Oxford 2 The Ballot Box.
By Edwin Smith
