Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
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Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
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|---|---|
| Chairperson | Lawrence Guyot |
| Vice Chairperson | Fannie Lou Hamer |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Dissolved | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Ideology |
Progressivism Desegregation |
| Political position | Center-left |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Colors | Blue |
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was an American political party created in 1964 as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in the state of Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. It was organized by African Americans and whites from Mississippi to challenge the legitimacy of the regular Mississippi Democratic Party, which allowed participation only by whites, when African Americans made up 40% of the state population.
For generations, African Americans had endured widespread denial of their voting rights in Mississippi, which used poll taxes, literacy tests and comprehension tests administered by white agents, and other means to prevent blacks from registering and voting. They had been nearly excluded from the political system since 1890 by passage that year by white Democrats of a new state constitution incorporating these devices and by the practices of the ruling white Democrats in the decades since. Participation in the state Democratic Party was limited to whites only. Starting in 1961, SNCC and COFO had waged campaigns to register black voters; they often encountered violent opposition, with activists being beaten, and were not able to register many African Americans.
The founding Party members were: Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, and Robert Parris Moses, residents of Mississippi.
In June 1963, African Americans attempted to cast votes in the Mississippi primary election but were prevented from doing so. This contest to elect Democratic candidates was essentially the only competitive race, as the state was a one-party jurisdiction. Unable to vote in the official election, they organized an alternative "Freedom Ballot" for an election to take place at the same time as the scheduled November voting. With this election seen as a protest action to dramatize the denial of their constitutional voting rights, close to 80,000 people cast freedom ballots for an integrated slate of candidates.
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