1965: Black Mississippians challenged white congressional delegatio

Jan. 4, 1965 

Five busloads of Black Mississippians arrived at the U.S. Capitol to challenge the seating of Mississippi’s all-white congressional delegation. 

Those in charge in Washington initially had little sympathy because the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party had rejected the compromise at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, said SNCC leader Michael Thelwell. 

“We were absolutely persona non grata and the pariahs of beltway politics,” he said.

But their cause soon found some support on the floor of Congress when 149 members sided with them. Suddenly, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party could question the state’s top leaders. Suddenly, these white politicians, the most powerful people in Mississippi, found themselves using courtesy titles toward Black Americans — something they had refused to do since slavery ended. 

Although those in Congress eventually took their seats, “it shook them,” recalled SNCC leader Victoria Gray. “That vote just really turned things upside down.”