Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Essay

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was founded in 1963 to counter the Mississippi Democratic Party which only allowed participation by whites. The party was developed during the Freedom Summer Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, of which Hamer was the vice-chair. In 1964, 40 percent of the population was black, yet they were not allowed to participate in the political system (Bramlett-Solomon 1991, 515). The party registered 60, 000 black voters in the state of Mississippi and after that effort party delegates were sent to the 1964 Democratic Convention.
It was at this convention that they challenged the all-white presence and delegation at the Convention. In 1964 at the Democratic National Convention Hamer shared her testimony of the violence she had experienced in her life in Mississippi. It was here that Hamer took the podium after blacks demanded to be seated at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. It was here that we heard Hamer deliver her most famous quote “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” (DeMuth 2009, 2). It was during this speech that Hamer shared her testimony and recalled her past experiences - including her experience in that Winona jail, a story she had no problem sharing. Hamer may not have been seated at the convention, but it was here that Hamer finally

It was not her lack of knowledge of the political system that caused her to lose, nor was it her lack of experience. When the all-white voters saw a poor, black, woman take the podium to speak that’s all they needed to know about her. Her gender and her race made her automatically inferior in the eyes of the white delegation and not qualified for a seat in congress. Her class was also a major factor; her lack of education was due to her class status which was due to her race. All of the identities of Hamer served as a chain of events that were the major prevention of Hamer having a seat in