Mississippi
Lessons from 1964’s Mississippi Freedom Summer
The recent arson that destroyed Beth Israel, Jackson, Miss.’s only synagogue, evokes that state’s dark legacy of violence toward those supporting racial equality — one stretching back more than 60 years.
In spring 1964, a Duke University sophomore from Connecticut, Dick Landerman, and a Harvard senior from New York, Nick Fels, joined the civil rights movement in Mississippi. As idealistic foot soldiers, they were unwittingly marching into history.
Landerman’s family was apolitical. His civil commitment was more interpersonal than ideological — a function of friendships made at a racially mixed YMCA summer camp and on Hartford basketball courts.
But casual campus racism repelled and incited him. What prompted his activism, he told me in an interview, was “my shame at not speaking up in response to a racist incident at the start of my freshman year.”
Fels recalled to me that his civil rights interest preceded the summer of 1964. “Among other things, growing up in New York as a rabid Brooklyn Dodgers fan, I idolized Jackie Robinson — and still do,” he said.
So, Landerman, 19, and Fels, 21, joined the Mississippi Freedom Summer, a joint effort involving the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Council of Federated Organizations, which included the Congress of Racial Equality and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, plus the NAACP and its Legal Defense Fund.
In 1961, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizers moved into Mississippi cities and towns to register local Blacks to vote. Poll taxes and literacy tests stymied registration, as did widespread racist violence and intimidation.
In 1963, a Liberty, Miss., politician shot and killed Herbert Lee, a Black farmer working with the the organization. A white sniper murdered NAACP state field secretary Medgar Evers, and local activist Fannie Lou Hamer and Lawrence Guyot were arrested and beaten in jail. Activists faced church bombings, house burnings and economic retaliation.
Yet the national media virtually ignored this terror and intimidation. No government protection or voting rights action came.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee strategist Robert Moses concluded, “It is not possible for us to register Negroes in Mississippi. … There is reason to believe that authorities in Mississippi will force a showdown over the right to vote in large numbers.”
Moses and local leaders decided on recruiting mostly white, Northern middle-class volunteers for national media attention, and to serve as a tripwire against local white terrorism.
Like many Mississippi volunteers, Landerman and Fels are Jewish. But white and Black, Christians and Jews, the same missionary zeal fired them as embodied in the Civil War era Battle Hymn of the Republic: As Jesus “died to make us holy, let us die to make men free.”
And so, they did, a century later.
On June 21, 1964, Black Mississippi activist James Chaney and two white volunteers, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, disappeared while driving from Philadelphia, Miss., to Jackson. Neshoba County and Philadelphia City police officers, most Ku Klux Klan-affiliated, arrested the trio on speeding charges. After they were released, Klan and law enforcement officers followed them, beat Chaney, shot all three, and buried the bodies in an earthen dam.
Fels recalls riding in a car with two other volunteers one night after the murders. “Our car was stopped by the local sheriff, who was notorious for harassing” civil rights organizations’ volunteers. “After directing us to get out of the car and show our IDs, he paused for a moment and then let us go. I have never forgotten the sense of panic.”
Later, he and other volunteers saw the dam site where Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman’s bodies had been buried. “The visit brought home the depth of the hostility we faced and triggered a strong sense of anxiety, particularly because of our own recent encounter with the sheriff in Hattiesburg,” Fels said.
The deaths galvanized the nation and influenced passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which eliminated poll taxes and literacy tests, exploding Mississippi and southern Black voter registration.
Although the summer also deeply affected other volunteers, many remained in Mississippi, despite the trauma.
Motivated by his experience, Fels joined Friends of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was active in the Berkeley free speech movement. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge John Minor Wisdom — a staunch foe of racial segregation — and worked in legal aid.
That December, Landerman returned to Duke, becoming active in a campus civil rights organization. He stood up to racism in late-night dorm arguments with segregationist students about sit-in arrests at local segregated restaurants. Following graduation, Landerman spent several years community organizing in a white Durham, N.C working-class neighborhood.
At 81, he reflects on his Mississippi experience’s relevance today.
“When Bob Moses entered Mississippi in 1961,” Landerman said, “Black people had lived for decades under a brutal and oppressive system where change seemed inconceivable, and opposition brought economic retribution, beatings, jailings, and death. Together with local Black people, a [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] staff of 41 built a movement capable of making Freedom Summer happen and bringing voting rights to Black people across the South.”
Fels, now 82, says Mississippi Freedom Summer also deeply affected him. Retired from his Washington law firm, he’s on the board of Lawyers Defending American Democracy. The group filed an amicus brief challenging President Trump’s executive order restricting the number of citizens who could register to vote in federal elections.
“The repression of rights and violence we faced in Mississippi obviously differs from what the current federal government seeks to impose today,” he says. “I think, however, that the lesson from Freedom Summer applies: Resistance is necessary and may, in the long run, succeed.”
Mark I. Pinsky is a journalist and author based in Durham, N.C.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Odds of winning the Powerball and Mega Millions are NOT in your favor
Odds of hitting the jackpot in Mega Millions or Powerball are around 1-in-292 million. Here are things that you’re more likely to land than big bucks.
The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from June 2 drawing
05-14-16-33-35
Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 3 numbers from June 2 drawing
Midday: 3-3-8, FB: 5
Evening: 6-9-5, FB: 7
Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 4 numbers from June 2 drawing
Midday: 6-0-4-9, FB: 5
Evening: 2-8-1-0, FB: 7
Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from June 2 drawing
Midday: 08
Evening: 03
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Story continues below gallery.
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.
Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:
Mississippi Lottery Corporation
P.O. Box 321462
Flowood, MS
39232
If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.
Mississippi Lottery Headquarters
1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100
Flowood, MS
39232
Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.
When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?
- Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
- Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Mississippi governor signs Jackson MS water authority bill into law
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on April 8, 2026.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn claimed victory in the city’s legal fight against Mississippi’s new Metro Jackson Water Authority, arguing a federal judge’s latest ruling validates Jackson’s concerns about state lawmakers trying to influence the future of the city’s water system.
During a press conference at City Hall Tuesday, June 2, Horhn pointed to U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate’s decision to block the authority from naming a president, entering lease agreements or taking other substantive actions while Jackson’s water and sewer systems remain under federal oversight.
“What we’re thankful of is that the judge seems to agree with us,” Horhn said. “House Bill 1677 appeared to try to subvert the authority of the federal court.”
The comments come one day after Wingate issued a split ruling on the controversial law. While the judge declined to block House Bill 1677 outright, he also barred the Metro Jackson Water Authority from taking operational action beyond seating board members while the federal court continues overseeing Jackson’s water and sewer systems.
But Wingate’s ruling did not strike down House Bill 1677. It was more of a split ruling.
The judge agreed with arguments made by the state, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and JXN Water that the law itself does not automatically transfer control of Jackson’s water and sewer systems because any future takeover remains subject to federal court approval.
That leaves open a question: If the law remains on the books, could the Metro Jackson Water Authority simply remain in place until federal oversight ends and then assume control of the systems?
Horhn was asked that question directly Tuesday.
In response, Horhn focused on portions of the ruling that prevent the authority from naming a president who would serve as a deputy to JXN Water leader and Interim Third-Party Manager Ted Henifin. Horhn also pointed to Wingate blocking movement on any lease agreements until the court decides how the eventual transition away from federal oversight should occur.
“Two major points of the judge’s ruling are that he enjoined the state and the authority if it does start taking action from being able to name a president who would become the second in command of JXN Water,” Horhn said. “The other thing is that he enjoined any action on a lease being entered into until such time as he has had a chance to deliberate and decide what the future path ought to be.”
Horhn’s answer suggested he believes the ruling leaves room for other options besides simply allowing House Bill 1677 to take effect once federal oversight ends.
“What the judge has said to us for a number of months is that he wants to see a transition plan,” Horhn said.
The mayor said city officials have already begun discussions with JXN Water about what that transition plan could look like.
“We have begun discussions with JXN Water to have meaningful conversations with them about putting such a transition plan forward,” Horhn said. “At this point, the actions of the city are focused on working with Jackson Water to try to come up with a transition plan that might be approved by the judge.”
Under existing court orders, JXN Water is expected to develop a formal transition plan that must ultimately be approved by Wingate.
When asked whether the city could pursue its own water authority rather than the state-created Metro Jackson Water Authority, Horhn pointed to existing Mississippi law allowing municipalities to create utility districts.
“For a number of years, there has been state statutory authority for municipalities to establish municipal utility districts,” Horhn said. “We have made that presentation before the judge, and as I understand it, he’s taking it under advisory.”
Horhn did not elaborate on whether the city is actively pursuing that option, but the comments suggest Jackson may continue advocating for alternatives to House Bill 1677 as discussions about a post-receivership transition continue.
Additionally, Horhn reiterated his long-standing position that Jackson should maintain majority control over any future governing body overseeing the city’s water and wastewater systems.
“We don’t mind participation and involvement by the state of Mississippi,” Horhn said. “But any future governance of the City of Jackson’s water and wastewater system must have the City of Jackson having the majority of control.”
Horhn said Jackson’s position has never been that the state should be excluded entirely.
“What I have said is that we don’t mind participation and involvement by the state of Mississippi,” Horhn said. “But any future governance of the City of Jackson’s water and wastewater system must have the City of Jackson having the majority of control on any future boards or authorities that would be created.”
Horhn said Jackson opposed House Bill 1677 because it would have allowed state and suburban appointees to outnumber city representatives on the authority’s governing board.
“We don’t mind if you want to have some involvement, but not control,” Horhn said.
The mayor also argued the legislation ignored concerns repeatedly raised by Jackson officials during the legislative process.
“House Bill 1677 was a classic example of the state not listening to the local interests of the City of Jackson,” Horhn said.
Overall, Wingate’s 22-page order on Monday, June 1, was something of a split decision. Jackson persuaded Wingate to freeze many of the authority’s powers, but the state successfully defended the law itself from being blocked outright. The larger question of who will ultimately control Jackson’s water system remains unresolved. For now, Wingate remains in the driver’s seat.
“The parties should all accept that this state statute cannot force this court’s hand, nor dictate the calendar of this litigation,” Wingate wrote.
Charlie Drape, the Jackson beat reporter, has covered the Jackson water crisis from its collapse in 2022 through the system’s ongoing recovery, including independent testing and other accountability reporting. You can contact him at cdrape@gannett.com.
In 2022, Dyamone White, then in her late 20s, filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that Black voters like her didn’t have a fair chance to elect justices to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Three years later, she won a significant victory. A federal judge ruled that Mississippi Supreme Court election districts violated the Voting Rights Act and that Black candidates who wanted to run for the state’s highest court were unlikely to succeed. U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock instructed lawmakers to draw a new map to give Black voters more power, with court-ordered special elections to follow, likely this fall.
“WE WON,” White wrote in a social media post that day in August 2025. “This isn’t just a personal victory — it’s a win for every Mississippian who has waited too long for fair representation. I became a plaintiff because I refused to accept that our state’s highest court could exclude the very people it serves. Today, that changes.”
But that change still hasn’t happened — and a recent seismic ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court means it may never happen.
In late April, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Louisiana v. Callais that dramatically weakened the Voting Rights Act, making it much harder for racial minorities to win voting discrimination lawsuits.
The decision further intensified a mid-decade redistricting war that’s been spreading across the country ahead of the congressional elections in the fall. But the decision affects politics beyond the federal level. The now-upended court battle about Mississippi’s judicial elections will serve as an early test of whether voting rights plaintiffs can still mount a convincing case in some circumstances.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court vacated Aycock’s ruling from last year after the plaintiffs and defendants agreed that the Callais decision had dramatically changed the legal landscape.
That removed the state’s obligation to draw a new court map. It also eliminated the possibility that the state would hold special elections for its Supreme Court seats this fall, ending Black voters’ hope that 2026 may yield fairer representation at the top of the state’s judiciary. The case will now head back to Aycock’s court for new arguments under the higher standard created by the Callais decision.
The plaintiffs still see a path forward to win new maps. Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center argue on behalf of White and her fellow plaintiffs that they can still prevail under that new standard.
Looking to the court battles ahead, White is also looking back. She is from the tiny town of Edwards, a rural community near the state’s capital city region, and she recites its history of Black resistance to oppression, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement and beyond.
“It’s an area that is resilient,” White said. “The people I grew up around, they were all fighters.”
Dyamone White with Reuben Anderson, the first Black justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court, in 2024.
The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, was a key tool in dismantling the Jim Crow regime of White supremacy that blocked Black residents from ballot box access in Mississippi and across the South.
Among other provisions, the law prohibited states from diluting the voting power of racial minorities and required that those voters have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing.
So, with Callais decided, what’s changed?
When plaintiffs filed suit over the Mississippi Supreme Court voting districts in 2022, they had to show a violation of the law only by pointing to discriminatory effects of the voting districts in use, regardless of what the original architects of those districts may have intended.
Those effects? Black people make up about 38% of Mississippi’s population, but the state has just one Black justice currently sitting on its nine-member Supreme Court. Only four Black justices have ever been on the court, all serving since 1985 and never more than one at a time. All four first reached the court through a gubernatorial appointment to fill a vacancy.
That has meant very little Black representation on a body that interprets state laws and the state constitution, hears appeals in criminal and civil cases and has some control over the operations of lower courts.
With no need to delve into the intention of the legislators who created the current districts in the late 1980s, Aycock, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Mississippi Supreme Court districts as drawn have the effect of diluting Black voting power, violating the Voting Rights Act.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the Callais case, however, sets a higher standard. A Voting Rights Act violation may now be found “only when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.”
Legal experts have said that proving intentional discrimination is challenging — made even more difficult by the Alito opinion’s endorsement of partisan gerrymandering as a legitimate purpose of redistricting. The conservative justice wrote that states can now defend themselves against race dilution claims by arguing that Black districts are being eliminated not because of racist motivations but partisan ones since Black voters have typically supported Democratic candidates.
States like Louisiana and Tennessee have moved to quickly eliminate Black-majority Congressional districts. They will likely defend their new maps as partisan gerrymanders, not racially motivated ones.
“It’s going to be just lightning-strike rare for a Voting Rights Act claim to work where partisanship is permitted,” said Justin Levitt, a former Department of Justice official and election law expert who teaches at Loyola Marymount University Law School.
However, Mississippi Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan, and that may make a meaningful difference in the current litigation, said Amir Badat, a civil rights lawyer who has argued a number of voting rights claims in the state.
Badat said that even under Callais, lawmakers may not be able to hide behind partisan intent to shield themselves from judicial scrutiny.
“In this kind of narrow circumstance, you still have viable Section 2 claims,” said Badat, referencing the section of the Voting Rights Act that bans discriminatory election practices.
Levitt agrees that voting rights cases in nonpartisan elections may still be possible to win under Callais, though he added that the overall impact of the decision likely makes even those cases quite difficult.
While the legal standard may have changed, White, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, says one thing has not: The reality faced by Black voters who want to see a fair state Supreme Court map.
“We laid out the facts of representation in the state. You can’t deny that, “ White said. “We can go back to court again, and the facts remain the same. Representation is not equal.”
This article was produced in collaboration with Bolts, a nonprofit publication that covers criminal justice and voting rights in local governments; sign up for their newsletter.
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