SNCC 50th Anniversary Conference Volume 21 - The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party: "A Real Democratic Process"
FEATURED SPEAKERS Lawrence Guyot (Chair MFDP) Michael Thelwell (Director, Washington Office MFDP) Armand Derfner (MFDP Attorney) Wesley Hogan (Professor, Virginia State University) MacArthur Cotton (SNCC Field Secretary)
This session looks at what made SNCC "radical" by focusing on the people who worked with SNCC. The session also addresses the emergence of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Although 96 percent of its members were denied the right to vote, the MFDP transformed not only Mississippi politics, but the rules of the national Democratic Party. "It is the greatest example of small-d democracy that we have," says Professor Wesley Hogan, author of Many Minds One Heart: SNCC's Dream for a New America. Former MFDP Chairman, Lawrence Guyot, gives a detailed presentation of the MFDP and its challenges in 1964 and 1965. MFDP Attorney Armand Derfner describes the Party's continuing impact, focusing on the Voting Rights Act. Former SNCC Field Secretary, MacArthur Cotton, describes the step-by-step process involved in organizing the MFDP.
Executive Producer: SNCC Legacy Project, Inc., Documentary Sub-Committee, Karen Spellman, Courtland Cox, Sharlene Kranz, Jennifer Lawson Gittens, Judy Richardson, Joyce Ladner, Charlie Cobb Producer: Natalie Bullock Brown/Ascension Productions Series Editor: Joseph Brandon Johnson Volume Editor: Joseph Brandon Johnson
