Civil rights movement

=== Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964 ===
{{Main|Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party}}

Blacks in Mississippi had been disfranchised by statutory and constitutional changes since the late 19th century. In 1963 COFO held a [[1963 Freedom Ballot|Freedom Ballot]] in Mississippi to demonstrate the desire of black Mississippians to vote. More than 80,000 people registered and voted in the mock election, which pitted an integrated slate of candidates from the "Freedom Party" against the official state Democratic Party candidates.<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm Freedom Ballot in MS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816034441/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm |date=August 16, 2016 }}&nbsp;– Civil Rights Movement Archive</ref>

[[File:Lyndon Johnson meeting with civil rights leaders.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] ''(center)'' meets with civil rights leaders [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Whitney Young]], and [[James L. Farmer Jr.|James Farmer]], January 1964]]

In 1964, organizers launched the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to challenge the all-white official party. When Mississippi voting registrars refused to recognize their candidates, they held their own primary. They selected [[Fannie Lou Hamer]], [[Annie Bell Robinson Devine|Annie Devine]], and [[Victoria Gray Adams|Victoria Gray]] to run for [[United States Congress|Congress]], and a slate of delegates to represent Mississippi at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.<ref name="crmvet.org" />

The presence of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], was inconvenient, however, for the convention organizers. They had planned a triumphant celebration of the Johnson administration's achievements in civil rights, rather than a fight over racism within the Democratic Party. All-white delegations from other Southern states threatened to walk out if the official slate from Mississippi was not seated. Johnson was worried about the inroads that Republican [[Barry Goldwater]]'s campaign was making in what previously had been the white Democratic stronghold of the "Solid South", as well as support that [[George Wallace]] had received in the North during the Democratic primaries.

Johnson could not, however, prevent the MFDP from taking its case to the Credentials Committee. There [[Fannie Lou Hamer]] testified eloquently about the beatings that she and others endured and the threats they faced for trying to register to vote. Turning to the television cameras, Hamer asked, "Is this America?"

Johnson offered the MFDP a "compromise" under which it would receive two non-voting, at-large seats, while the white delegation sent by the official Democratic Party would retain its seats. The MFDP angrily rejected the "compromise."

The MFDP kept up its agitation at the convention after it was denied official recognition. When all but three of the "regular" Mississippi delegates left because they refused to pledge allegiance to the party, the MFDP delegates borrowed passes from sympathetic delegates and took the seats vacated by the official Mississippi delegates. National party organizers removed them. When they returned the next day, they found convention organizers had removed the empty seats that had been there the day before. They stayed and sang "freedom songs".

The 1964 Democratic Party convention disillusioned many within the MFDP and the civil rights movement, but it did not destroy the MFDP. The MFDP became more radical after Atlantic City. It invited [[Malcolm X]] to speak at one of its conventions and opposed the [[Vietnam War|war in Vietnam]].