A cacophony of children’s voices, punctuated by stomps and claps, echoed in the Cardozo Middle School gymnasium in West Jackson.
“Hold on, wait a minute, let me put some freedom in it!” about 50 kids chanted, while their parents held up their phones to record the moment.
The Friday-morning event commemorated the end of Freedom School this summer — a free weeks-long program that promotes reading and leadership skills. The Children’s Defense Fund runs the program in 26 states every year, with more than 11,000 student participants, but Freedom Schools have especially deep roots in Mississippi.
As part of the 1964 Freedom Summer civil rights project, the first Freedom Schools aimed at fostering political and community engagement were founded in Mississippi. Three decades later, the Children’s Defense Fund revived the concept, opening their first schools in 1995.
What exists now at Jackson Public Schools, the only district in Mississippi that has partnered with CDF since 2022 to operate Freedom Schools at three of their sites, is a “reimagined” version of what existed the summer of 1964.
“It’s so important, when you think about what the teachers were able to accomplish that one summer,” said Kristal Moore Clemons, national director of the Freedom Schools program. “To have this rebirth and have children in 2025 learn about civil rights and the importance of being change agents and leaders, it’s just remarkable.”
For five days a week this past month, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., the students were led through a literacy curriculum, learned about history and practiced leadership skills. They read one book a week, and at the end of the program, they got to take a book home to build their own personal library.
It doesn’t matter what reading level the students are at when they arrive — CDF trains college-age “servant leader interns” to meet the kids where they are and bolster their skills.
Janai Virgil, an upcoming 4th grader at McWillie Elementary School, has been attending the summer program for two years now. Her mother, Jamila, spent a lot of time researching Freedom Schools to decide whether or not she wanted her daughter to attend. The focus on civic engagement made up her mind.
“The students improve their reading skills over the summer, but they also learn about our history and their role in society,” she said. “This program helps them think about how they fit into the greater picture and how they can help not only themselves but their families and their local community, state and country, and that when we work together collectively we can achieve great things.”
Every June afternoon Jamila picked Janai up from Freedom School, the 9-year-old could barely contain her excitement telling her mother everything she’d learned, all the books she’d read and the rich conversations she’d had.
“I can tell it’s affecting her and her desire to improve her community,” Jamila said.
Additionally, Clemons said the program is greatly successful at preventing the dreaded “summer slide” — the loss of academic knowledge over summer vacation. And in Jackson, retaining reading skills is more important than ever.
The state’s reading gains have garnered national attention, but just over half of third-graders at Jackson Public Schools are reading on grade level.
JPS board member Jeanne Middleton-Hairston was one of the proud adults in the crowd on Friday. As she watched on, the significance of the program resonated with her.
Middleton-Hairston grew up in west Jackson. Her grandmother lived across the street from civil rights workers who came down the summer of 1964, and Medgar Evers’ office was two blocks away from her childhood home.
“The history of Freedom Schools is part of the soil here,” she said. “It’s a safe place for them to come and know how brilliant and able they are and how working together makes everything better for everyone. There ain’t no school like Freedom School.”
So when the students started singing, Middleton-Hairston couldn’t help but get up and dance.
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