From what I have read so far in Freedom Summer, I have realized that there were many different confrontations concerning the status quo. The one problem in particular that got to me was the double standard surrounding the issues of "the weaker sex." Also, the beginnings of the Free speech movement and the Student Movement itself were a huge controversy at the time. I think that, once the people began to examine the issues that were put forth concerning equality in concern to sex and equality in general, they began to slowly understand the perspective that the African-Americans were coming from.
The volunteers' encounters with white supremacist violence and their experiences with interracial relationships, communal living, and a more open sexuality led many of them to "climb aboard a political and cultural wave just as it was forming and beginning to wash forward." I think that with this contact that the volunteers had, they became more intune with the problems surrounding the Civil Rights Movement, and how much things actually had to change.
One example of this is when an SNCC worker started going to schools in an attempt to teach them about non violent protests. Many African-Americans jumped at the chance to show others that they could protest, and not hurt anyone in the process. However, those against the protests decided to make an example of them by expelling them or even arresting them.
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Yes, exactly. The connections between Freedom Summer and the civil rights movement, the women's movement, and the Free Speech Movement are very important for us to understand and appreciate. One slogan that was adopted by the women's movement from these and other earlier protest movements is the idea that "the personal is political." When we see how people's ideas and expectations were changed by their experiences with Freedom Summer, we see how true this notion is. As a result of the application of this slogan, our own ideas of what is "political" can also change--we don't simply mean electoral politics, although that element continues to be important. But we are reminded that the possibilities of American citizenship can expand to accommodate a range of choices about how to live.
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