Mississippi Report – Freedom Summer

Michael Tigar’s Notes:

Mississippi Report, July 21, 1964, KPFA-FM (rebroadcast on KPFK-FM and WBAI-FM). 1964 was “Freedom Summer” in Mississippi. I did a series of radio talks about the civil rights movement and events related to the freedom struggle in Mississippi. This was also the year in which Barry Goldwater was nominated to run against Lyndon Johnson, and Johnson was trying to keep his Southern base intact even though the Democratic party establishment in the Southern states was avowedly racist. These scripts were written on a deadline, with minimal opportunity to edit. This first talk introduces the issues. Elaine Shinbrot was co-author. The August 11, 1964 script is missing from my files. The talks were written on a relatively short deadline; they are journalistic in the sense of not being the product of deep reflection.