Supporters of the voter registration project in Tennessee included the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Fayette County at Cornell University, where Charles Haynie did his graduate work prior to his appointment as professor of mathematics at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. Although blacks in Fayette County had been allowed to register to vote since 1959, the same year that the League was formed, segregation and discrimination were still widespread in the early 1960s. The efforts of the Haynies were directed toward increasing voter awareness, registering new voters, and generally assisting the majority black population to secure their rights.
