il Rights Act of 1964 through Congress after strong opposition from Southern legislators. It prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. This also gave the executive branch of government the power to enforce the act's provisions. The Battle for Equal Voting Rights and the Death of Jim Crow The culmination of SNCC's commitment to civil rights activism at the community level was in 1964. Starting in 1961 SNCC and CORE organized voter registration campaigns in heavily black, rural counties of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The SNCC concentrated on voter registration, believing that voting was a way to empower blacks so that they could change racist policies in the South. The SNCC worked to register blacks to vote by teaching them the necessary skills to pass a voter registration test. SNCC worker Robert Moses led a voter registration effort in Mississippi, in 1961, and in 1962 and 1963 SNCC worked to register voters in the Mississippi Delta. These civil rights activities caused violent reactions from Mississippi's white supremacists. Moses faced constant terrorism that included threats, arrests, and beatings. In June 1963 Medgar Evers, a NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, was shot and killed in front of his home. In ‘64 SNCC workers organized the Mississippi Summer Project to register blacks to vote in that state. SNCC leaders also hoped to focus national attention on Mississippi's racism. They recruited Northern college both black and white students, teachers, artists, and clergy to work on the project. The project did receive national attention, especially after three participants, two of whom were white, disappeared in June and were later found murdered. By the end of the summer, the project had helped thousands of blacks attempt to register, and about 1000 had actually become registered voters. The Project increased the number of blacks who were politically active and led...
