The barriers to voting and the fight to gain access to voting is an ongoing story in America and the WashU Libraries holds several collections with interviews, media, and other documentation that help tell that story. In the Julian Edison Department of Special Collections, you can find unique, original primary source interviews with key figures of the civil rights movement who fought to gain access to the ballot box with their efforts culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.

A Regular Bouquet and Freedom Summer

The 1964 Freedom Summer marked a crucial period in the push for African American voting rights. A Regular Bouquet Collection contains a rare film that was shot during Freedom Summer in Mississippi by actor, filmmaker, and artist Richard Beymer.  Co-produced by the Council of Federated Organization Film (COFO), the film documents the day-to-day lives of the people in Mississippi and the organizers and volunteers who were involved in voter registration efforts. 

Beymer was originally moved to be involved with the movement as a volunteer after viewing news reports coming out of the South and Mississippi during the turbulent years of the early sixties. He attended an out-of-state orientation for organizers, and it was during this time that the idea of making a film came to him that could be used in training future COFO volunteers. Beymer returned to Mississippi armed with a 16mm Bolex camera and a supply of black and white 16mm film.

During the summer, Beymer worked to register Mississippians to vote, canvassed neighborhoods, and filmed the daily lives and activities of the volunteers and the local people and children. He always kept his camera with him. “When I saw something that struck me, I had it there ready to go. I was making a film of my experience, wherever it took me. I had no idea what I was getting into. Until you walk into it, you don’t know all of that,” Beymer said.

The impact of this footage showing the work of Mississippi volunteers and the local people who had not been given an opportunity to share their stories remains vital and relevant. As a result, other documentary filmmakers frequently seek his footage, including Henry Hampton who used forage from A Regular Bouquet in Eyes on the Prize (1987), episode five, Mississippi: Is This America? (1962–1964).

Thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation, A Regular Bouquet can be viewed in full on the WashU Film & Media Archive’s Vimeo channel.

Remembering Mississippi Freedom Summer, a digital exhibition featuring additional photography from the collection, is available to view.

The Henry Hampton Collection contains numerous interviews with key figures who were involved with the struggle for voting rights, including Unita Blackwell, member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Myrlie Evers, civil rights activist, journalist, and wife of Medgar Evers, NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi, Dave Dennis, Council of Racial Equality (CORE), Peter Orris, voter registration organizer, and many others. These interviews can be viewed on the WashU Libraries Digital Collections portal.