The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi
"Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi," a book by John Dittmer, DePauw University professor of history, provides further insight into the civil rights efforts of the 1960s and the documents released by the Sovereignty Commission.
Dittmer was able to see some of the Sovereignty Commission documents while they were still secret, and he included some of the information in his book published in 1994. In his book, Dittmer discusses the struggle to obtain civil rights for black citizens in racially repressive Mississippi, including efforts to seat an integrated Mississippi delegation at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The murder of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman are told in detail through oral history accounts.
Dittmer's book was awarded the Bancroft Prize in American History in 1995.
For further information and to contact John Dittmer, call Larry Anderson, DePauw University director of public relations, at 765-658-4628(office,days) or 765-653-2778(home, evenings and weekends).
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