Freedom Summer

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2012

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Poem Analysis

Themes

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

“Power” by Audre Lorde (1978)

This intense poem focuses on the murder of 10-year-old Clifford Glover in 1973 and the police officer who, after admitting to the murder, was not convicted in court. Lorde’s poem about a horrible injustice differs from “Freedom Summer” mainly in its tone. Whereas “Freedom Summer” is somber, reflective, and seeks to honor the movement that the victims died for, Lorde’s poem focuses on the rage she feels as a result of Glover’s murder.

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Lorde connects this anger to the legacy of oppression and violence against Black people in America, and she speaks about the power poetry has to deal with this issue.

“American History” by Michael S. Harper (2000)

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This poem focuses on the murder of four Black girls in a Birmingham church on September 15, 1963. The bombing of the church was one of the most horrifying moments of the civil rights movement and in all of American history.

Harper connects that image to the image of the Middle Passage and the drowning of slaves during this time. He connects these two images to make the point that too often in American history, the atrocities committed against Black people are suppressed and lost to history. This is a way of controlling power through the control of history. This poem is similar to Lorde’s poem in its focus on anger, though it also uses sarcasm to make its point.

Freedom School Poetry by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1965)

This book contains poetry from a number of Black writers at the height of the civil rights movement. With a foreword by Langston Hughes and poetry written during the movement and about the movement, this book is a great resource for finding powerful poetry about the movement that “Freedom Summer” is dedicated to.

Further Literary Resources

“Murder in Mississippi” by PBS (n.d.)

This article provides a comprehensive explanation of the Freedom Summer murders, including a timeline of the day of the murder and information about the subsequent trials of the killers.

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The article explains how it took over 15 years for anybody involved in the murders to go to jail, and even then, none of the murderers spent more than six years in prison. However, the case was reopened in 1999, and the main perpetrator of the murders, Edgar Ray Killen, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for manslaughter. Killen died in prison in 2018.

“James Chaney’s Death on Father’s Day ’64 Brought Change, but the Work Continues” by Susan M. Glisson (2020)

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This essay focuses on Chaney’s legacy and the impact his death had on his daughter, who was only a few days old when her father was killed. Glisson also discusses the loss of her own father and discusses the importance of remembering Chaney and what he stood for. She also discusses the fact that Chaney’s grave is still the target of racist vandals more than 50 years after his murder.

“Mississippi Burning Case” by FBI (n.d.)

This resource provides original case files from the FBI about the Freedom Summer murders. There are hundreds of pages of documents in this database, and it is useful for research on the original investigation into the crime.

“Searching for the Bodies: Freedom Summer: American Experience” by PBS (2014)

This chilling video presents newsreel footage from the search for the bodies of the three men. The video demonstrates some of the issues civil rights activists had to fight at the time. In interviews with white people from Mississippi, it is clear that there was a sense in the state that the disappearance of the men was a hoax designed to make the South look bad and to draw attention to the cause. One woman even says, without shame, that if the men truly are dead, they were asking for it.

The video also highlights the role that Michael Schwerner’s wife, Rita, played in drawing attention to the crime. In an interview with her, she talks about how she was careful not make the entire situation about her because she knew that if Chaney had been by himself and not with two white men, the country wouldn’t have cared, and his death would have gone unnoticed.