Title: Council of Federated Organizations. Panola County Office: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1963-1965

Creator:

• Council of Federated Organizations (U.S.). Panola County Office (Miss.)

Call Number: Mss 521

Quantity: 0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of civil rights activities in Panola County, Mississippi, carried out under the auspices of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). Programs 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 papers consist of memoranda, flyers, reports of various types, and similar material, arranged by subject or event title. Very little correspondence is present, and all items have been photocopied.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00521

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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.

The collection contains photocopies of official and staff documents, which have been arranged alphabetically, primarily by subject or event. Items of greatest interest are those which illustrate the activities of the organization, such as the day care center proposal; Freedom School lessons and study materials, and the “Panola Freedom Readers” and drafts of articles; memos and staff papers regarding Freedom Schools; and COFO project reports and incident reports. Other material deals with voter registration and harassment of registrants, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party district and precinct records, the Young Democratic Clubs of Mississippi, and the December 3, 1964 Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service elections. Very little correspondence is present in the collection, and the majority of material includes memoranda, notes, flyers, reports of various types, and similar items.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has one of the richest collections of Civil Rights movement records in the nation, which includes more than 100 manuscript collections documenting the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. More than 25,000 pages from the Freedom Summer manuscripts are available online as the Freedom Summer Digital Collection.

Acquisition Information

Loaned for copying by COFO - Panola County, Mississippi Movement, via Robert J. Miles, Batesville, Mississippi, 1966.

Mss 521 Box   1 Folder   1	Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, General Records and County Committee Election of December 3, 1964 (”The Cotton Vote”), 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   2	Cars and Driving, 1964
Box   1 Folder   3	Community Centers, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   4	Correspondence and Personnel File, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   5	Day Care Center Proposal, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   6	Federal Programs, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
	Freedom Schools
Box   1 Folder   7	Lessons and Study Materials Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   8	Memos and Staff Documents, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   9	Freedom Vote, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   10	Incident Reports and Notes regarding Cars, Drivers, License Plates, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   11	Jobs and Employment, 1965
Box   1 Folder   12	Legal Material, 1964-1965 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   13	Miscellany Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
	Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Box   1 Folder   14	District and Precinct Records, 1964-1965 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   1 Folder   15	General State Papers, 1964-1965 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
	Panola County
Box   1 Folder   16	COFO Project Reports, Incident Reports, and Affidavits, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   17	General Information and Reports, 1963-1965
	“Panola Freedom Reader”
Box   1 Folder   18	Material for First Edition
Box   2 Folder   1	“Panola Freedom Readers,” 1964-1965
Box   2 Folder   2	Voter Registration and Harassment, 1964-1965 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   2 Folder   3	Voters - Lists of Eligible Voters, 1964 Alternate Format: All or part has been digitized and is available online.
Box   2 Folder   4	Young Democratic Clubs of Mississippi, 1965