Two years ago, I met civil rights veteran Jan Hillegas. Since 1965, Hillegas has preserved the history of the Mississippi Movement through the Freedom Information Service (FIS) Library. The FIS Library’s first holdings included materials she rescued from the COFO statewide headquarters in Jackson when the organization dissolved that year. I should perhaps write a “scholarly” piece on the origins of this collection and my work, but for now, I will use this digital space to write about some of the unique materials I came across in the FIS Library. I’ve started to write about the Mississippi Summer Project applications, but I’ve stopped because (1) my schedule got busy and (2) I became uncomfortable with my writing. But I want to write; I need to write and put all these thoughts and research rabbit holes somewhere. Funny enough, this blog began as an online research journal as I wrote the biography of Rachel Flowers. Now, it will continue as an online research journal as I process the FIS Library.

Box 2, Folder ‘Bob Moses’

Someone placed this label on the folder, which was probably an old one from the 1960s. Initially located in a filing cabinet from the COFO office, I have placed the folder with other materials documenting the history of this civil rights coalition (comprised of the NAACP, SCLC, CORE, and SNCC).

Several letters can be found in this folder, mainly letters to Bob Moses, also known as Robert ‘Bob’ Moses, a civil rights giant who organized with local Mississippians during the long freedom struggle. With the volume of letters he and COFO received in 1964, many of the communication volunteers or his secretaries responded on his behalf.

When I came across the letter below, my jaw dropped, which happens a lot in the FIS Library. It was a letter from John Hope Franklin in response to Moses’ request, or rather invitation for the historian to visit Mississippi that long, hot summer of 1964. Unfortunately, Franklin had prior commitments that summer of 1964 and was unable to come down South. He concluded, “I wish for you every success in your undertaking.” And I wondered as I held this letter, what if Dr. John Hope Franklin came to Mississippi that summer.