The organizers of the Mississippi Summer Project aimed to bring national attention to the violent suppression of African Americans’ civil rights in the Magnolia State. Later called Freedom Summer, the project included Freedom Schools, community centers known as Freedom Houses, a voter registration drive, and an effort to seat delegates at Democratic National Convention, which would be held in August. The summer of ’64 did not mark the beginning of civil rights work in Mississippi. But it was a turning point for the state, and for the nation.