The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), the coordinating group for civil rights activities in Mississippi, had its origins in an ad hoc committee formed after the 1961 Freedom Rides. The committee evolved into a larger organization in 1962, with a full-time staff of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) volunteers, and a voter registration program. In 1963 COFO established a state office in Jackson and added statewide services and a communications system to assist in organizing Mississippi blacks. Statewide programs included Freedom School classes, community centers, federal program assistance, workshops, and meetings. COFO projects in the Mississippi First, Second, Third, and Fifth Congressional districts were supported by SNCC, while CORE was responsible for programs in the Fourth district, and staffed the Jackson office. However, workers from each organization worked together, and with occasional aid from the NAACP and SCLC, on joint COFO projects throughout the state.
COFO programs in Panola County included voter registration, a Freedom School and community center, a proposed day care center, and assistance with federal programs and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. The affiliation of individual workers in Panola County is not clear from the papers, however a local COFO leader was Robert J. Miles, a Batesville farmer. Miles was one of the earliest members of the local NAACP chapter, formed about 1960, served as the chapter's treasurer, and was active in voter education and registration efforts. As a result of his activism, and attempts to register to vote, Miles' house was bombed in August, 1964.
