Questions:

How do we draw lessons from history and in particular, what lessons might we draw from this episode about the party system in American politics?
What was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and what was their plan to resist racist violence and terror in Mississippi in the 1960’s?
Why was their plan a risky one?
What was controversial about their plan, especially to black members of the SNCC already working to mobilize blacks in Mississippi and the South?
What did the SNCC and CORE hope to achieve and did they achieve it? Where did they fall short, and where perhaps, did they succeed?
What did the SNCC trainers tell white college students about what to expect in Mississippi should they decide to participate?
What political/public institutions failed to protect blacks in the South during Jim Crow? List as many as you can.
While the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act can be seen as positive outcomes of Freedom Summer, why might blacks be hesitant to see these acts as signaling the victory of their efforts?
Normally, the history of Jim Crow discusses how blacks and whites were segregated and lived in unequal conditions, but there’s more to the story that gets touched on in this episode – what else did you learn from this episode that points to serious omissions in the standard account?