What was the purpose of Freedom Summer in 1964?

• A. A campaign to register Black voters in Mississippi and broaden participation in the political process
• B. A literacy program for freed slaves
• C. A protest march from Selma to Montgomery
• D. An effort to desegregate schools in Boston

Answer: (A)

Freedom Summer was a focused effort to expand Black political participation by registering Black voters in Mississippi. The idea was to challenge the entrenched barriers that kept Black Mississippians from voting—poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and other forms of disenfranchisement that kept turnout incredibly low. By bringing in volunteers from across the country to organize, educate, and assist people in registering to vote, the campaign aimed to empower communities and push the political system to open up more fully to Black citizens.

This work had broader significance beyond registration. It spotlighted the violent resistance to civil rights in the Deep South and helped galvanize national support for stronger federal protections of voting rights, ultimately contributing to the push for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The other options don’t fit because they refer to different initiatives: a literacy program for freed slaves points to an earlier era’s postwar education efforts; a protest march from Selma to Montgomery occurred in 1965 as part of a separate voting rights campaign; and desegregating Boston schools relates to a different, later desegregation effort with its own local history.