Mississippi+Freedom+Democratic+Party

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party took a stand at the 1964 Democratic Convention. In Mississippi the racist white voters went up against the African Americans wou were taking advantage of their right to vote as Americans. The Mississippi Freedom Democratic party was created from the 60,000 African Americans in Mississippi registered to vote. This MFDP wanted to overpower the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, Lyndon B johnson, the likely canidate, feared that it would not help if the MFDP rtepresented the Democrats at the National Convention. In the end, the Democratic Party represented at the National Convention. [|1] Eventually a compromise proposal orchestrated by Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey offered the MFDP two non-voting seats next to the regular Mississippi delegates. However, the MFDP refused the offer because it denied them any chance of voting on the floor of the convention. MFDP leader Fannie Lou Hamer spoke before the convention rules committee explaining the position of the party and why the compromise offered was unacceptable.[|2]

After the convention, African Americans accross the United States made it more of a point to pull for their right to vote. No longer would they comply with the discrimination against them. This motivation to pull for their right to vote "paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965". [|2]