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Big Days

Throughout the SYI experience, participants will have the opportunity to visit sites significant to Mississippi’s Civil Rights history as well as sites where former SYI students have done important work in their communities. We have named these days “Big Days.”Philadelphia, MS –

In June 1964, three civil rights workers–Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner–were killed due to their involvement with Freedom Summer. Freedom Summer was when people from different Civil Rights groups and from communities across the country came to Mississippi to help register African Americans to vote.SYI participants will get a chance to relive history as they go on a driving tour of places significant to the story of the Civil Rights workers and get a local perspective on the state of Philadelphia today. Leroy Clemons, member of the Philadelphia Coalition, a multiracial group of concerned local citizens that formed around a call for justice for the three Civil Rights workers’ murders, will guide participants on a tour and talk about the process of bringing Edgar Ray Killen to trial.

For more information on the Philadelphia Coalition, see their website: http://www.neshobajustice.com/index.htm.

For a copy of the Neshoba County Driving Brochure, visit http://www.neshobajustice.com/documents/RootsofStruggle-feb2010.pdf.

Greenwood, MS –In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Greenwood stands as the home of many influential Civil Rights workers and movements. In homage, SYI participants will do a day of community service projects. Students will also talk and work with SYI alumni who have been active in improving their communities in the Delta.

Money, MS — In 1955, the violent death of a young boy propelled the Civil Rights movement forward. Emmett Till, a teenager from Chicago, Illinois, was visiting his family in Money. After supposedly whistling at a white woman in the Money Store, Emmett Till was horrifically murdered. His funeral, famous for his mother’s insistence for an open casket, and the subsequent trial gained much publicity and showed the world the horrendous effects of racism and prejudice.

Participants will travel to Money and visit important sites from Emmett Till’s final moments.

For more information on the Emmett Till Commission, visit http://www.etmctallahatchie.com.

For a brochure of the Emmett Till Driving Tour, see http://www.etmctallahatchie.com/documents/drivingtour.pdf.

Jackson, MS — Participants will travel to Jackson on the final day of SYI to give presentations of their community projects for their fellow participants and their families. These presentations will take place at the Mississippi Museum of Art. For more information about projects and the day in Jackson, see our projects page.