Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

franchised Black voters, the organization of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party (MFDP), and the organization of freedom schools to enhance the academic
skills, political and social consciousness of Mississippi Black youth. The MFDP
was projected to be a multiracial political party which would challenge the legiti-
macy of the Mississippi Democratic party at the Democratic National Convention .
Moses' proposal, supported by Dave Dennis and SNCC activist Lawrence Guyot
(from Hancock County, Mississippi), included the mobilization of large numbers
of white students to participate in the Summer Project. Primarily indigenous
Black Mississippians involved in COFO and SNCC, like Watkins, Cotton, Block,
and Peacock, did not support Moses' proposal. After a heated debate and three
votes, the COFO staff agreed to a compromise which allowed the participation of
100 white volunteers . On December 30, 1963, Moses presented the idea to the
SNCC's national executive committee, who enthusiastically supported Moses
proposal . In this meeting SNCC veterans like John Lewis, Marion Barry, and
James Forman supported Moses' proposal, agreeing that involving large numbers
of white students would compel the federal government to protect Movement
workers in Mississippi . SNCC's executive committee agreed to expand the num-
ber of white volunteers decided upon by the COFO staff. SNCC national leader-
ship decided to send representatives to a COFO meeting in January 1964 to
provide Moses with support in convincing COFO staff to accept the massive
number of white volunteers they planned to recruit .6 Armed Self-Defense vs .
Non-Violence : Internal Debate Within SNCC and CORE.
On June 10th, 1964, six months after Moses and SNCC national leader-
ship convinced COFO staff to agree to bringing large number of white volunteer,,