Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., September 13, 1965
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., September 13, 1965
In the 1964 congressional primaries, some of the candidates backed by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), including Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine, and Victoria Gray, lost to Mississippi’s five white congressmen. Suspecting fraud, the Council of Federated Organizations held a “Freedom Vote” mock election, the results of which differed significantly from the official primaries. In the primaries, Hamer’s white opponent, Jamie Whitten, received 35,218 to Hamer’s 621 votes. In the mock election, however, Hamer garnered 33,009 votes to Whitten’s 59. This mock election also demonstrated that the blacks of Mississippi would vote if given the opportunity and could influence the outcome of the elections. On September 13, 1965, Hamer testified before the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in connection with the MFDP’s questioning of the electoral legitimacy of Mississippi’s five white congressmen. This chapter reproduces Hamer’s testimony.
Keywords: primaries, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mississippi, Council of Federated Organizations, Freedom Vote, mock election, blacks, House of Representatives, testimony
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