Attacks against Black people became indiscriminate as news coverage faded. Mississippi’s public officials and law enforcement saw Freedom Summer as an “invasion” of outside agitators and communists. The Klan followed suit. Night riders bombed Black churches, homes, and businesses. Activists were kidnapped, flogged, and beaten. During the two-month period of the Summer Project, Mississippi experienced more Klan violence than at any time since Reconstruction. COFO’s 1964 tally listed 450 incidents, among them at least three murders, 35 shootings with four persons wounded, and 52 "serious" beatings.
Pictured: A black and white photograph of a woman being dragged by a police officer down a sidewalk to a police bus. Several officers walk beside her on the left, a man holding a camera follows behind her. In the background, a group of protestors watches the event.
Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society, WHS-97870
