Cobb, Charlie. Memorandum, January 14, 1964 re: Summer Freedom Schools in Mississippi

Memorandum January 14, 1964
To: SNCC Executive Committe, COFO Summer Program Committee
From: Charles Cobb
Re: Summer Freedom Schools in Mississippi
It is—I think--just about universally recognized that Mississippi
education, for felack and white» is grossly inadequate in comparison
with education around the country  Negro education in Mississippi
is the most inadequate and inferior in the state- Mississippi's
impoverished educational system is also burdened with virtually
a complete absence of academic freedom, and students forced to
live in ar environment that is geared to squash intellectual
curiosity -<nd different thinkingo  University of Mississippi
Professor James Silver, in a recent speech, talked of "social
paralysis.„».where non-conformity is forbidden, where the white
man is not free, where he does not dare express a deviating
opinion without looking over his shoulder^' This "social paralysis"
is not limited to the white community, however.-'  There are Negro
students who have been thrown out of classes for asking about
voting, or the freedom ridesr'  Negro teachers have been fired for
saying the wrong thing,-'  The state of Mississippi destroys "smart
niggers," and its classrooms remain intellectual wastelands.
In our work we hsive several concerns oriented around Mississippi
Negro students:
lo The need to get into the schools around the state and organize
t.ie students, with the possibility of a state-wide coordinated
student Movement developing.
2.  A student force to work with us in our efforts around the
3t  The responsibility to fill an intellectual and creative vacuum
in the lives of young Negro Mississippiaiis, and to get them to
articulate their own desires, demands, and questions- More
students need to stand up In classrooms around the state and ask
their teachers a real question,,
As the summer program for Mississippi now shapes us, it seems as
if hundreds of students from some of the best universities and
colleges in the North will be coming to Mississippi to lend
themselves to the movement/  These are some of the best youn^
minds in the countrys and their academic value ought to be
recognized and taken advantage of,
I would like to propose a summer school during the months of July
and August for 100 to 200"tenth and eleventh grade high school
students, in order to:
1. Supplement what they are not learning in tevgh school around
the state.
2. Give them a broad intellectual and academic experience during
the summer to bring back to fellow students in classrooms around
the state.
3/ Form the basis for state-wide student action such as a school
boycott.
These students would be recruited from various projects now
existing around the state.  Possibly, in late spring, one staff