They did not want us to come down until we really thought it through a second , third , a tenth time .
project and to coming to Mississippi .
“ They made our whole session , when the phone call came , they stopped what they were doing and they said go get on the phone … and call your parents ,” Levy said . “ They did not want us to come down until we really thought it through a second , third , a tenth time . They didn ’ t want anybody coming down and having a parent say you didn ’ t tell us it was going to be dangerous .”
Levy , an idealist who grew up in a Jewish family opposed to segregation , said his parents , of course , were worried for his safety , but his wife ’ s family were long-time union and political activists , so they understood the risks involved .
“ My mother was like any mother would be , ‘ I want you to come home , but I know you want to be there . Just be careful , be smart .’ My wife ’ s parents were activists ,” he said . “ They were trade union activists , so they had more political sense of the world , and they themselves had done things , taking risks being on a union picket line . My wife was more comfortable with a family history of that .”
Freedom School opens
With the three civil rights workers still missing , Levy and his wife arrived in early July as co-coordinators in getting the Freedom School open .
“ The Baptist Seminary had been closed for a number of years , and it was in really good shape , what the community had done to get it ready before we got there ,” Levy recalled .
“ We were the only Freedom School in the state , and I think there were about 40 Freedom Schools all around the state , ... that used a school ,” he said of the old Baptist Seminary building . “ All the others were churches , porches , yards , storefronts , but we were the only one that had a school building .”
COFO organizers had planned for about 1,000 students in the Freedom Schools statewide that summer , but the schools drew between 2,500 to 3,000 students by the end of summer . The Meridian Freedom School was the largest , single school with about 200 regular students though it reached many more . With about 20 teachers , the Meridian school taught students from elemen-
Volunteers gather for a memorial service for the three civil rights workers killed , left photo , and from an appearance by folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger at theMeridian Fredom School . Photos by Mark Levy from Mark Levy Papers held in the Special Collections and Archives at Queens College , City University of New York .
They did not want us to come down until we really thought it through a second , third , a tenth time .
- Mark Levy
tary through high school in a range of subjects they were not being exposed to in their segregated schools . Some learned remedial skills in math , writing and reading , while others exlored science , government , Black history , French , typing , shorthand , folk dance , literature and poetry from Black
writers , the civil rights movement — things the students said they wanted to learn .
“ There was a reason those things were being denied to the kids ,” Levy said of the lack of these subjects in the segregated schools , “ but they had presumed that it was their own fault , their own weaknesses as to why they were being denied those things .”
Once the students realized they could learn those subjects , they became very eager to learn , Levy said . Written expression in the form of poems , short stories , essays , newspaper articles and theatrical productions were very popular .
At the same time , other Freedom Summer volunteers pushed out into the community to help Black residents register to vote , in particular , to prepare them for tests they were required to pass in order to register .
The Meridian school was going strong in early August when folk singer Pete Seeger visited . While he was performing on Aug . 4 , word reached the group that the bodies of
Schwerner , Chaney and Goodman had been discovered beneath an
16 • MERIDIAN LIFE