COFO Civil Rights Education Center

1961年， Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) 是作为一个伞形组织成立的，目的是统一并满足密西西比州日益增加的民权组织的需要, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian 领导 Conference (SCLC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 和 a host of local civil rights organizations. For the first two years of operation, COFO的活动重点是在密西西比州各地进行选民登记，并在哥伦布等种族隔离严重的城镇建立有针对性的项目, 格林维尔, 格林伍德, 哈蒂斯堡, 霍利斯普林斯, 和子午线. 1963年，COFO在密西西比州的杰克逊市设立了州总部. 林奇街——当时黑人商业和激进主义的走廊——位于大阳城集团99aa校园的边缘.

该地点是吸引和培养社区和学生参与运动的理想地点. 几十年来，这条街一直是杰克逊州立学院(现为大阳城集团99aa)的所在地。, 坎贝尔大学, the historic Masonic Temple, which housed the offices of the NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, 和 a number of African American businesses including restaurants, 干洗店, 理发店, 一个电影院, 和药店. 林奇圣reet was the cradle of civil rights activity in Jackson, 和 the neighborhood witnessed numerous protests, 游行, 质量会议, 和示威. The activities on 林奇圣reet did not go unnoticed by police, 为了进一步监视民权工作者，他们经常从停在共济会圣殿的汽车上记下车牌号码.

COFO在其短暂的生命中在林奇街建立了重大项目，并成为该地区民权活动的中心. COFO发起的最受认可的运动是1964年的“密西西比夏季计划”(密西西比州 Summer Project)，即“自由之夏”(Freedom Summer)。在该计划中，来自北方各州的大多数白人大学生前往密西西比州，参与全州范围内的选民登记工作，并建立自由学校和社区中心. 这种努力被许多密西西比白人视为对“生活方式”的攻击. 结果是, there were dozens of church bombings, countless beatings of civil rights workers, 和 the tragic killing of James Chaney, 安德鲁·古德曼, 和 Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, 密西西比州, during the summer of 1964. 这两起谋杀案比当时任何其他民权谋杀案获得了更多的全国新闻报道. A year before the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner murders, Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway in Jackson.

密西西比自由民主党(MFDP)也是委员会自由投票努力的产物. 由于非洲裔美国人被剥夺了选举权，因此组织民族自由民主党是为了提供无障碍选举. 近80,000 African Americans cast their ballots in the 1963 Freedom Vote, 因此, the MFDP formed in April 1964. 自由民主党派出其当选代表参加在新泽西举行的民主党全国代表大会，挑战密西西比州民主党的全白人“常客”, who had been elected without the will 和 consent of Black 密西西比州ans. MFDP代表要求作为该州唯一民主选举的代表参加大会.

Among the 64 MFDP delegates were Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, 和 Ed King. The MFDP gained considerable support as they argued their case, 足以让整个代表团在64个席位中让步两个席位. In her famous televised speech, Fannie Lou Hamer expressed the attitude of the MFDP stating, “We didn’t come all the way up here for no two seats since we all tired.林登·B. Johnson interrupted her speech by calling an immediate press conference. 这一事件在现代民权史上可以被认为是民权运动的转折点. After years of organizing 和 being subjected to brutality 和 deaths, 很明显，就连白宫也不像它鼓吹的那样支持，不久之后，黑人权力运动出现了.

The modern civil rights struggle in 密西西比州 has been overlooked for quite some time, 但最近的奖学金和对密西西比的兴趣达到了顶峰，部分原因是50人的数量^th 现在60岁了^th anniversaries celebrating civil rights movement history. James Meredith integrated the University of 密西西比州 in 1962. Medgar Evers was assassinated in 1963. Freedom Summer came in 1964, 和, in 1966, the historic call for Black Power was first made in 格林伍德, 密西西比州.

2011年， COFO Civil Rights Education Center opened to honor the past, deal with issues of the present, 并在原来的联邦组织委员会的同一栋大楼里为未来提供希望. On the State Register of Historic Places, the building has its original façade, which pays homage to its uses during the civil rights era. 它坐落在密西西比自由之路上，里面有教育展览.

Even though many books have been published on the 密西西比州 civil rights movement, scholars from around the world visit the state in search of people, 文档, 工件, 还有历史遗迹. 这种兴趣为COFO民权教育中心提供了提供必要藏品的机会, 档案, 以及为研究人员提供参与密西西比州民权运动历史的空间.

The COFO Center has developed 和 delivered 教育项目 to increase student, 教师, 工作人员, 和 community visitation 和 program participation. 这些项目是通过与文科学院的合作来实施的, the Division of Student Life, the Margaret Walker Center, 和 community organizations that include the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, 密西西比州 State Conference of the NAACP, 密西西比州 Student Justice Alliance, Southern Poverty Law Center, 向上的束缚, McNair Scholars Program, 擅长项目, Veterans of the 密西西比州 Civil Rights Movement, the Equal Justice Initiative, the Young People’s Project, 还有很多其他的.

另外, COFO在大阳城集团99aa举办了大学招聘机会，中学生和高中生通过教育充实旅行和校外参观参观. 外联委通过其规划帮助提高了大学的品牌和知名度, 在本地, 在全国范围内, 和全球. Programs have not only impacted the University 和 local communities, 他们为来自全国各地和世界各地的游客提供了参与社会正义和文化理解对话的机会. 新建立的社区伙伴关系有助于增加大学的支持者，并为学生之间的合作创造了更多的机会, 教师 和 工作人员 at other institutions of higher education.

COFO’s mission remains relevant 和 significant to a 21^st century liberal arts education in a global context. By creating the COFO Center, 作为一所历史悠久的黑人大学，jsu致力于保护密西西比民权运动的历史和遗产，并将区域视角扩展到全球视角, 项目, 以及解决世界各地人权和社会正义问题的教育产品. 村委会代表着活生生的历史，可以通过社区外展以真实和实质性的方式影响变革, 编程, 和 exhibitions at home 和 abroad.