Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was established in Mississippi in 1962 as a coalition of various civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The organization's primary focus was to enhance voter registration efforts among African Americans in the southern United States, addressing the systemic disenfranchisement they faced. Led by Aaron Henry from the NAACP and directed by Robert Moses, COFO played a crucial role in initiatives such as the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, which sought to mobilize White college students alongside Black activists to promote voting rights.
COFO's activities were often met with violent opposition, resulting in beatings, arrests, and even fatalities among its workers who were dedicated to registering Black voters. In addition to voter registration, COFO organized freedom schools and supported the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, highlighting the barriers to voting and education faced by African Americans. The coalition made significant strides in raising national awareness about racial discrimination in Mississippi. However, by 1965, support from major organizations like the NAACP began to wane, leading to COFO's disbandment in December of that year.
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Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was developed in Mississippi in 1962 to increase the efforts of national and regional civil rights groups, particularly the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
The COFO aimed to coordinate voter registration in the southern regions of the United States. The COFO’s president was Aaron Henry of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and its director was Robert Moses. More than 90 percent of COFO funding was provided by the SNCC, which received money from the Voter Education Project. The COFO worked closely with SNCC and other civil rights organizations on its projects.
Its most significant endeavor was the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. This project arose from a mock election held in Mississippi in 1963 that showed that African Americans would vote if given the opportunity. Moses devised a new strategy of bringing White college students to Mississippi over the summer break to work on the voter registration project along with Black activists. COFO workers were beaten and arrested, and some were shot at and even killed for assisting in registering Black voters. They also operated freedom schools for African American children and helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The organization also supported jailed Freedom Riders, increased voter education, and held the mock election protest called the Organizing the Freedom Ballot for Governor in 1963.
The COFO made Americans aware of the discrimination that African Americans experienced in Mississippi at the hands of its White residents. In 1965, several organizations, including the NAACP, withdrew their support for the COFO, and the coalition disbanded in December 1965.
Bibliography
"Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)." Stanford University, kinginstitute.stanford.edu/council-federated-organizations-cofo. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
Dierenfield, Bruce J. The Civil Rights Movement. Rev. ed., Routledge, 2008.
Napson-Williams, Theresa. "Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)."Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture, edited by James S. Baugess and Abbe A. Debolt, ABC-CLIO, 2012, pp. 155–56.
Ownby, Ted, editor. The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. UP of Mississippi, 2013.
Watson, Bruce. Freedom Summer. Penguin, 2010.