Freedom Summer, also known as the Mississippi Summer Project, was a voter registration drive organized by civil rights organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the NAACP in the summer of 1964. The goal of Freedom Summer was to increase African American voter registration in Mississippi, where Black residents faced systemic barriers to voting and were often subjected to violence and intimidation if they attempted to register.

Over 1,000 volunteers, the majority of whom were white college students, traveled to Mississippi to help with voter registration efforts, community organizing, and education programs. The volunteers faced intense violence and hostility from white supremacists and local law enforcement, with numerous incidents of harassment, beatings, arrests, and even murders occurring throughout the summer.

Despite the challenges and dangers they faced, Freedom Summer was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, bringing national attention to the injustices faced by African Americans in the South and highlighting the need for federal intervention to protect the rights of Black voters. The efforts of Freedom Summer volunteers helped to lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to eliminate discriminatory voting practices that disenfranchised African Americans.