Total Credits: 1
In his second lecture on the Mississippi freedom movement, Dr. Burns tells the story of Mississippi freedom summer (1964), when SNCC organizers brought several hundred northern white college students to register Black voters, teach in "freedom schools,” and support creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to challenge the racist Democrats and seek recognition at the Democratic National Convention. During the historic summer ex-sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer emerged as SNCC’s most powerful orator. Her speech to the national convention made President Johnson quake in his boots. Freedom summer led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Activist historian Stewart Burns, is the only major Martin Luther King Jr. biographer who participated in the Black Freedom Movement, including the 1963 March on Washington. His background includes many years of nonviolent activism organizing for justice and peace that has been enlightened by thirty years studying Dr. King’s leadership and the Black Movement. From forming a high school civil rights committee, to organizing anti-Vietnam War protests and resisting the draft, to protesting nuclear power and first-strike nuclear weapons, to fostering interracial communication at Stanford, Williams, and other colleges, he has devoted his life to teaching and practicing Kingian “soul force.” Dr. Burns is Professor and Chair of Ethical & Creative Leadership, as well as Faculty in Martin Luther King Jr. Studies at Union Institute & University's Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program.
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