Introduction

This essay examines coverage of Freedom Summer 1964 through a micro-study of articles published on page one of issues of the Jackson Daily News, Jackson, Mississippi, from June 1, 1964, through June 30, 1964.  By examining this historically important event through the filter of newspaper stories, who wrote them, where they were placed on the page, and the headlines that accompanied them, I clarify the nature of the newspaper’s coverage of one of the defining moments in the American civil rights movement.


The time period coincides with the preparation and arrival of college students from across the country in Mississippi in a major project to register African American voters, to build freedom schools to educate young black children who had been denied equal educational opportunities, and to expose bias and injustice in Mississippi’s all-white, pro-segregation state Democratic Party.  Included in this period is coverage of the murders of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by elements of the Ku Klux Klan.


The major research method is content analysis of data collected from microfilm archives at The University of Mississippi’s J.D. Williams Library, supplemented by published works of event participants and observers, and previous research into coverage of the civil rights movement by media in Mississippi.  This essay supports the general theory that mass media communication is an essential element in the public’s awareness and understanding of civil rights issues in Mississippi.