[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY

                                 ______


                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 3, 1994

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I come today to salute the 
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party [MFDP]. The MFDP was established 
in 1964 to organize disenfranchised citizens. MFDP provided citizens 
with a vehicle through which they could learn about the political 
process and examine how political decisions affected them. The party's 
primary goal was to challenge the exclusion of African-Americans in the 
Mississippi Democratic Party.
  The fight to include African-Americans in the Regular Democratic 
Party took the State by storm. MFDP organizers recruited participants 
from 35 counties which totalled 3,500 people. These organizers became 
known as the Freedom Democrats.
  Adhering to the process of the Mississippi Democratic Party, the 
Freedom Democrats utilized the party's regulations of precinct, county, 
and State caucuses to govern their delegate selection process. After 
months of organizing and training, the MFDP concluded their caucus by 
selecting 68 delegates and alternates to attend the 1964 Democratic 
National Convention in Atlantic City, NJ. This biracial, educationally, 
and socially diverse group was more representative of the State's 
population than the all-white delegation selected by the Regular 
Democratic Party.
  The Freedom Democrats were not seated at the 1964 Democratic 
Convention but their cause had been heard throughout the Nation. This 
national exposure allowed delegates to discuss heart-wrenching tales of 
racism, brutal beatings, and the total exclusion of African-Americans 
from the Mississippi Democratic Party. This courageous act was the 
beginning of a new era in the civil rights movement.
  The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party continues to serve as an 
organizing tool and as an avenue for collective action.

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