Freedom Schools facts for kids

Freedom Schools were special temporary schools for African Americans, mostly in the Southern United States. These schools were free to attend. They were created during the Civil Rights Movement. This movement worked to gain social, political, and economic equality for African Americans in the United States. The most famous Freedom Schools were in Mississippi during the summer of 1964.

Why Freedom Schools Started

Even though the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregated schools were illegal, many places still had separate schools for white and Black students. In the mid-1960s, Mississippi spent much more money on white students than on Black students. For example, they spent about $81 for a white student but only $21 for a Black student.

Mississippi was one of the few states without a law saying children had to go to school. Many Black children in rural areas worked in fields instead of getting an education. The school lessons were also different. In one county, they decided that Black schools should not teach foreign languages, civics, or American history from 1860 to 1875.

In late 1963, Charles Cobb, an activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), suggested creating Freedom Schools. He was inspired by similar schools that had started elsewhere. For example, in 1963, a county in Virginia closed its public schools to avoid integrating them. Freedom Schools opened there instead.

Later that year, thousands of students in Boston and Chicago boycotted their regular schools to protest segregation and poor conditions. Some of these students attended Freedom Schools. In February 1964, over 450,000 students in New York City boycotted schools. Many of them also went to alternative Freedom Schools.

Mississippi Freedom Schools

The Freedom Schools in Mississippi were a big part of the 1964 Freedom Summer project. This project aimed to help African Americans register to vote and educate students for social change. Several civil rights groups worked together under the name Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). These groups included SNCC, CORE, NAACP, and SCLC.

Freedom Summer was mainly about helping people register to vote. Activists also planned a special election because Black voters were often stopped from voting in regular elections. This led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. This new party wanted to represent Black voters at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

In December 1963, Charles Cobb suggested the "Freedom Schools" idea for Freedom Summer. These schools would help elementary and high school students get involved in politics. They would also offer regular school subjects and discussions. The organizers of Freedom Summer liked the idea. In March 1964, they held a meeting in New York to plan the school's lessons. Spelman College professor Staughton Lynd became the director of the Freedom School program.

During Freedom Summer, more than 40 Freedom Schools opened in Black communities across Mississippi. Their goal was to encourage students to become active citizens. Over 3,000 African American students attended these schools in the summer of 1964. Students of all ages attended, from young children to older adults. The average age was about 15. The teachers were volunteers, many of whom were college students themselves.

Goals of the Schools

Freedom Schools had two main goals: political and educational. Teachers wanted to help students become agents of social change. This meant students would take part in the Civil Rights Movement, often by helping with voter registration.

The lessons covered seven main areas. These areas looked at the social, political, and economic problems related to race and the Civil Rights Movement. The schools also encouraged students to become leaders. They taught traditional school skills too.

The education at Freedom Schools focused on the students. Lessons were based on what students needed and their own experiences. Teachers encouraged discussions between students and teachers instead of just lecturing.

What Students Learned

The lessons for Freedom Schools were planned at a special conference. Teachers and directors discussed what to teach. They kept in mind what life was like in Mississippi and the short time they had to teach.

The lessons were designed to be easy for teachers to use and helpful for students right away. They focused on questions and activities, not just memorizing facts. Teachers were told:

Questioning is the most important tool. It's not helpful to give students information they can't understand. Questions lead to understanding. The value of Freedom Schools comes from what teachers can learn from students about their experiences.

The lessons had three parts:

• The Academic Curriculum focused on reading, writing, and speaking. It used students' own experiences.
• The Citizenship Curriculum encouraged students to ask questions about society.
• The Recreational Curriculum involved physical activities.

In most schools, the Citizenship Curriculum focused on two sets of questions for discussion:

• Why are we (teachers and students) in Freedom Schools?
• What is the Freedom Movement?
• What choices does the Freedom Movement offer us?

• What does the main culture have that we want?
• What does the main culture have that we don't want?
• What do we have that we want to keep?

The First Year of Freedom Schools

Freedom Schools opened in early July 1964. About 250 volunteer teachers attended training sessions before the schools began. Organizers had hoped for 25 schools and 1,000 students. By the end of the summer, 41 schools had opened, serving over 2,500 students.

Local communities helped set up the Freedom Schools. They provided buildings for classes and homes for the volunteer teachers. Some classes were held in parks, kitchens, homes, or under trees. Most classes took place in churches or church basements.

Attendance varied. Some schools had steady attendance, but many did not. Since attending was not required, getting and keeping students was a big challenge. For example, in one town, 15 students came the first week, then 8 the second. But at other times, 35 students might show up. Adults often attended classes too.

Lessons changed based on the local area. In rural places, students often worked during the day. So, classes were held at night. In cities, schools kept regular hours. They offered citizenship lessons and academic courses in the morning. Special classes like music, drama, and typing were in the afternoon. Sometimes, whole school days were spent on voter registration efforts. SNCC activists wanted students to be involved in civil rights. They hoped these students would stay in the state to bring about social change.

At the end of the summer, students and activists held a conference on August 8, 1964. This was the day after the funeral of James Chaney, one of the victims of a terrible crime. The conference was in Meridian, Mississippi. Each Freedom School sent three student representatives. They created a youth platform for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The students talked about jobs, schools, and public places. They made suggestions for the state party. By the end, students demanded access to public places, better housing, integrated schools, and jobs programs. They also wanted qualified Black people appointed to state jobs.

Teachers and students wanted Freedom Schools to continue. Plans were made to keep them going during the next school year. Some volunteer teachers even agreed to stay. However, students at the conference decided not to continue the schools. Instead, students used the leadership skills they learned in their own regular schools. Some students went back to school and demanded better facilities and more courses. Students in Philadelphia, Mississippi, wore SNCC "One Man, One Vote" buttons to school. They were then expelled for this.

Philadelphia Freedom Library Day School

The Philadelphia Freedom Library was started by John E. Churchville in 1964. Over time, he began offering evening classes and eventually turned the library into a school. He wrote essays about his ideas for this new Freedom School. He believed that education should help Black children reject old ideas and create a new system. Teachers needed to be role models for their students. The lessons aimed to explain the situation of Black people and teach skills to deal with it. The school was visited by the FBI in 1966 due to concerns about its activities. After this, Churchville stopped his activism.

Legacy of Freedom Schools

The idea of Freedom Schools lives on today. Several schools across the country are named after them. These include the Akwesasne Freedom School on a Mohawk reservation, and schools in St. Louis, Chicago, Seattle, and Tucson.

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) runs a modern Freedom School program nationwide. This program helps nearly 7,200 children in over 130 summer sites across 24 states.

In Michigan, the Black Radical Congress in Detroit started a project based on the Freedom Schools.

Philadelphia Freedom Schools is a local education program. It uses a modern version of the Mississippi curriculum. It focuses on learning, social action, and leadership for all ages.

In Atlanta, Freedom University is a modern-day freedom school. It is the only school in the world where all students are undocumented immigrants. It offers free college-level classes to help undocumented youth get higher education.