On the 50th anniversary of the civil rights Freedom Summer of ‘64, activist Karen Duncanwood spoke passionately about her experiences as a member of a volunteer group in Mississippi that was met by groups of angry white people and welcomed by the black community. While attending what was then San Francisco College (now San Francisco State University), Duncanwood learned about the struggles of black citizens who were trying to register to vote in Mississippi. Against her parent’s wishes, she made a life-changing decision to volunteer for the cause.
Duncanwood was assigned to teach remedial skills and black history in a black church in the small rural town of Canton in order to help people become voters. To vote, blacks had to pass strict voting registration exams that could require the registrant to write an essay explaining any paragraph pulled from the Mississippi state constitution. They were also charged a poll tax.
During her time in Mississippi that summer, she faced law enforcement officers who wore their uniforms by day and Ku Klux Klan robes by night. There were beatings, murders, and firebombings. Activists, along with others who sympathized with the blacks, were terrorized with threats. As Duncanwood says, “The terror we experienced that summer was something out of a horror movie.”
During her talk, Duncanwoord emphasized that volunteers like herself were not the stars of this movement, but the black community who worked to create lasting change, particularly the WWII veterans and land-owning farmers.
Because our branch made a special effort to insure that this event was well-publicized, we had many non-members attend this event, including a drop-in from the library.
This well attended meeting was the final presentation of the 10-year WOW (Women of the World) program.
