ABSTRACT

The struggle for civil rights occurred in the public and private spheres throughout the South, but it was the prolonged conflict in Mississippi that has come to possess a mystical quality in the mind of America. This chapter analyzes the traditions of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and understands the paradigmatic shift that occurred when SNCC took the forefront in the struggle. It provides a theoretical framework to understand the realities of life for both White and Black Mississippians. The chapter explores why Mississippi proved to be the most recalcitrant state in relinquishing long-held beliefs of Black inferiority and affording human rights to its Black citizens. It focuses on the concept of empowerment and how SNCC's philosophy of a personal form of organizing enabled Black Mississippians to fight for their rights. The chapter reviews Julius K. Nyerere's philosophy of an African-centered definition of socialism. It uses Nyerere's conceptualization of liberation for Africans in the context of liberation for Black Mississippians.