Freedom Libraries were originally a product of ‘Freedom Summer’—the voting registration campaign launched by various civil rights organizations in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. Information about these libraries has been extremely limited, so much so that their very
existence remains “virtually unknown even within the American library community” (Cook 3). This changed in 2008, when Karen Cook’s dissertation provided a comprehensive and exhaustive look at Mississippi Freedom Libraries. She positively identified over 80 different ones.
Selby tells the story of the The Selma Freedom Library and the The Hayneville Freedom Library.
See also: Frederick W. Heinze-
The Freedom Libraries of Mississippi (originally published in 1965).
http://www.slj.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/FreedomLibraries_3pp_article.pdf
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