For a Voice and the Vote

"The challenge by the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to the seating of the regular lily-white Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention has long been recognized as one of the most dramatic and pivotal moments of that most dramatic and pivotal of decades. But until now, no book length treatment of the challenge was available. Happily, Lisa Anderson Todd—herself a volunteer in Mississippi that summer—has now filled that void with her compelling, personal account of those five consequential days in Atlantic City and the impact they had on SNCC, the Democratic Party, and, by extension, the country as a whole."—Doug McAdam, Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

"For A Voice and a Vote is, quite simply, the most comprehensive and persuasive account of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's historic challenge to the state's white supremacist delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City in 1964. It is also a poignant and provocative memoir of Freedom Summer in Mississippi, seen through the eyes of a young northern white volunteer. Lisa Anderson Todd—participant, observer, and serious scholar—has written an extraordinary book, required reading for all those who care about the promise and possibilities of democracy."—John Dittmer, Professor Emeritus of History, DePauw University

"In For a Voice and the Vote Lisa Anderson Todd skillfully combines her personal story—as a college student volunteering for the 1964 Freedom Summer project—with a scholarly account of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's challenge at the Democratic Convention that August. This is an engaging, thoughtful account of history that we all need to know. Black Mississippians working with young people from across the country took their demand for voting rights and political power to the national stage. Though their plea for recognition was rejected, their effort stands as a remarkable moment in democratic promise and it changed fundamentally changed our nation."—Emilye Crosby, editor of Civil Rights History from the Ground Up