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Dissertation Information for Karen Joyce Cook

NAME:
- Karen Joyce Cook

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Alabama (USA) (2008)

ADVISORS:
- Margaret Dalton

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: Freedom Libraries in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project: A history

Abstract: The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of civil rights organizations, conducted a Mississippi Summer Project in 1964. During what came to be known as "Freedom Summer," local Mississippians, COFO staff, and hundreds of volunteers--college students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, ministers, and others--conducted voter registration campaigns, ran summer "Freedom Schools," opened Community Centers, and established approximately Freedom Libraries throughout Mississippi.

Freedom Libraries varied widely in quality and effectiveness. They were operated by inexperienced volunteers on shoestring budgets. Collections ranged from a few hundred volumes to more than 20,000. Some enjoyed newly constructed facilities; others were located in abandoned buildings. All were used enthusiastically by local people.

Regardless of their shortcomings, Freedom Libraries provided the first meaningful contact with books and libraries for many black Mississippians. Only a tiny minority of African-Americans in segregated Mississippi had any access to libraries. Even where public libraries were technically available to them, the collections held few if any books by or about African-Americans, the civil rights movement, or other issues of critical concern to African-Americans. The Freedom Libraries supplied such materials. The libraries also provided recreational reading to COFO staff, volunteers, and local residents. Library programs included story hours, poetry workshops, and performances by nationally-known folksingers. Collection materials supported classes in literacy and citizenship, black history and culture, the civil rights movement, and vocational and academic subjects.

All the Mississippi Freedom Libraries which opened during the 1964 Summer Project, and other libraries inspired by them which opened in the years immediately following, had ceased operations within a few short years. The Freedom Libraries' importance cannot be measured by longevity alone. The Freedom Libraries played important roles in the civil rights movement; influenced the library profession and publishing industry; and transformed the lives of countless black Mississippians by widening their intellectual horizons, especially through exposure to black literature and history.

MPACT Scores for Karen Joyce Cook

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C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-05-25 19:24:20

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