In response to Hamer's speech, telegrams and telephone calls poured in to
the convention in support of seating the MFDP delegates. President
Johnson feared losing the Southern white vote if the Democrats sided with
the MFDP, so his administration pressured civil rights leaders to convince
the MFDP to accept a compromise. The Democrats would give 2 of
Mississippi's 68 seats to the MFDP, with a promise to ban discrimination at
the 1968 convention. When Hamer learned of the compromise, she said,
"We didn't come all this way for no two seats." The MFDP and supporters in
SNCC felt that the leaders had betrayed them.
O
In what ways was the civil rights campaign in Selma similar to the one in
Birmingham?
Why did civil rights organizers ask their supporters to march on Washington?
What events led to desegregation in Birmingha?
What did the freedom riders hope to achieve?
Why did civil rights groups organize Freedom Summer?
Why did young people in SNCC and the MFDP feel betrayed by some civil rights
leaders?
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