Expanded and revised edition of the 2002 Zephyr publication now including poetry from the Freedom Schools.

Personal impressions of conditions and events in the summer of 1964 told in selections from letters home by workers in the Civil Rights movement in that area.

Letters from Mississippi offers a riveting, personal and multi-faceted narrative of the dramatic events that took place during the summer of 1964, "Freedom Summer," when hundreds of people came to Mississippi to volunteer with the Mississippi Summer Voting Project. The book covers the disappearance and murder of James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, the Freedom Schools, the violence and tensions at voting registration centers, and the political struggles in the halls of power. The original publication of Letters from Mississippi in 1965 was an immediate record of the mostly white volunteers in the Mississippi Summer Voting Project of 1964 ("Freedom Summer"). It went out of print in 1970. Zephyr Press' 2002 edition took the original text and placed it in a context of the history of the civil rights movement, of the broader scene in Mississippi during that summer, and of the subsequent lives of the volunteers. That edition has become a staple in studies of the civil rights movement, but it still focuses mostly on the "outsiders" in their Mississippi communities. This fiftieth anniversary edition includes: expanded biographical notes from previous editions, additional biographies of contributors to the original book, expanded notes, a filmography, and 40 pages of poetry written in the Freedom Schools by Mississippi students in 1964. The result is a wider resource for scholarship as well as for a general understanding of this critical moment in civil rights history. Elizabeth Martínez (1925-2021), edited and wrote the preface for Letters from Mississippi. She published six books and numerous articles on popular struggles in the Americas including De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century. Julian Bond (1940-2015) wrote the introduction to the book. He served four terms on the NAACP National Board and was chairman from 1998 to 2010. He was president of the Atlanta NAACP from 1978 until 1989.

"The words of these common soldiers fighting in one of the most notable units in the Army of Northern Virginia will fascinate both civil war buffs and historians.".

Revised edition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Summer

Personal impressions of conditions and events in the summer of 1964 told in selections from letters home by workers in the Civil Rights movement in that area.

Even Mississippi textbooks rarely mention the part Mississippi men and women played in World War I. Mississippians in the Great War presents in their own words the story of Mississippians and their roles. This body of work divides into five sections, each associated with crucial dates of American action. Comments relating to various military actions are interspersed throughout to give the reader a context of the wide variety of experiences. Additionally, where possible, Anne L. Webster provides information on the soldier or sailor to show what became of him after his service. Webster examined newspapers from all corners of the state for “letters home,” most appearing in newspapers from Natchez, Greenville, and Pontotoc. The authors of the letters gathered here are from soldiers, aviators, sailors, and relief workers engaged in the service of their country. Letter writing skills varied from citizens of minimal literacy to those who would later become published authors and journalists. These letters reflect the experiences of green, young Mississippians as they endured training camp, voyaged across the Atlantic to France, and participated in horrific battles leaving some scarred for life. To round out the picture, Webster includes correspondence from nurses and YMCA workers who describe drills, uniforms, parades, and celebrations.

Coastal Mississippi Alphabet celebrates the people, places, and events unique to the area of south Mississippi from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula teaching while it entertains. Rhymed verse, interesting facts, historical photographs, and beautifully detailed illustrations depict the rich offerings of this distinctive geographic region. A hidden picture activity and a glossary of terms enhance the learning in this delightfully educational book.

Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Reader documents the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, when SNCC and CORE workers and volunteers arrived in the Deep South to register voters and teach non-violence, and more than 60,000 black Mississippians risked everything to overturn a system that had brutally exploited them. In the 44 original documents in this anthology, you’ll read their letters, eavesdrop on their meetings, shudder at their suffering, and admire their courage. You’ll witness the final hours of three workers murdered on the project’s first day, hear testimony by black residents who bravely stood up to police torture and Klan firebombs, and watch the liberal establishment betray them. These vivid primary sources, collected by the Wisconsin Historical Society, provide both first-hand accounts of this astounding grassroots struggle as well as a broader understanding of the Civil Rights movement. The selected documents are among the 25,000 pages about the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society. The manuscripts were collected in the mid-1960s, at a time when few other institutions were interested in saving the stories of common people in McComb or Ruleville, Mississippi. Most have never been published before.