Thunder of Freedom

The world's eyes were on Mississippi during the summer of 1964, when civil rights activists launched an ambitious African American voter registration project and were met with violent resistance from white supremacists. Sue Sojourner and her husband arrived in Holmes County, Mississippi, in the wake of this historic time, known as "Freedom Summer."

From September 1964 until her departure from the state in 1969, Sojourner collected an incredible number of documents, oral histories, and photographs chronicling the dramatic events that she witnessed. In this remarkable book, written in collaboration with Cheryl Reitan, Sojourner presents a fascinating account of one of the civil rights movement's most active and broad-based community organizing operations in the South.

Thunder of Freedom unites Sojourner's personal experiences with her insights regarding the dynamics of race relations in the 1960s South, providing readers with a unique look at the struggle for rights and equality in Mississippi. Illustrated with selections from Sojourner's acclaimed catalog of photographs, this profound book tells the powerful, often intimate stories of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things.

Entering Mississippi
What We Walked Into
Mileston
The Holmes County Community Center
The Congressional Challenge and Marching for Freedom
School Desegregation, Head Start, and the Medical Committee
Voter Registration
The Greenville Airbase and the Community Action Program
Political Organizing, 1966
The Meredith March
November 1966 Elections and Coalition Building
Reading "The Some People" Story and a Trip North
FDP Candidates in Holmes
Black and White Issues with SNCC Workers
The 1967 Elections
Changed Lives