Black Mississippians’ fight for freedom did not end with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This book considers how the statewide Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) Head Start program became a vehicle through which African Americans mobilized for quality education, well-paying jobs, healthcare, and black self-determination after 1965. Head Start was a War on Poverty program created to improve the lives of poor children and their families. The federal early childhood education program provided black children from low-income families with nutritious m ... More

Black Mississippians’ fight for freedom did not end with passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This book considers how the statewide Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) Head Start program became a vehicle through which African Americans mobilized for quality education, well-paying jobs, healthcare, and black self-determination after 1965. Head Start was a War on Poverty program created to improve the lives of poor children and their families. The federal early childhood education program provided black children from low-income families with nutritious meals, medical screenings, educational opportunities that prioritized racial pride and civic engagement. Head Start also offered Mississippi’s black working-class women jobs as preschool teachers. These jobs, independent of the local white power structure, gave black women the financial freedom to vote and send their children to previously all-white schools. CDGM’s Head Start program antagonized white supremacists at both the local and state levels who were unaccustomed to financially independent and assertive blacks. It provoked opposition that significantly diminished the transformative possibilities of Head Start and the War on Poverty program.