"Blocks for Freedom": Sewing for Voting in Post-Jim Crow Mississippi

Abstract:

This article examines a voting rights campaign known as "Blocks for Freedom" that was launched in 1966 to help a group of rural African American women in Clay County, Mississippi, protect their right to vote. These Black women faced significant obstacles to vote even after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Local white vigilantes and county administrators used violence and the threat of informal economic sanctions to punish Black citizens who registered to vote. "Blocks for Freedom" sought to circumvent these limitations by creating jobs for Black women that would offer a living wage and protect their ability to cast ballots. Led by poor women in Mississippi and civil rights advocates in New York City, this innovative campaign shows how grassroots activists encountered voter suppression techniques employed to dilute the Black vote after the Civil Rights Movement.