History Of Freedom Schools

In the summer of 1964, forty-one Freedom Schools opened in the churches, on the back porches, and under the trees of Mississippi. The students were native Mississippians; their average age was 15. Their teachers were volunteers, for the most part college students who traveled to Mississippi to teach literacy and address educational inequities. The Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program is based on the Freedom Schools held as part of the “Mississippi Freedom Summer Project” during the Civil Rights Movement. Launched in 1993 by Marian Wright Edelman and the Children’s Defense Fund’s Black Community Crusade for Children initiative, today’s CDF Freedom Schools model draws on the vision, philosophy and experience of the 1964 Freedom Schools.

This summer there will be 19 Freedom Schools in Charlotte alone, and Shalom Park is one of those sites. Please join us at Shalom Park Freedom School to help strengthen children’s literacy and character skills and show the children that we serve that they are surrounded by a broad community who believes in them.