Recalling The Freedom Summer Of ’64

In 1964, lifelong activist and committed teacher Mark Levy participated in Mississippi Freedom Summer, serving as coordinator of a Freedom School in Meridian. In honor of Black History Month, on Sunday, February 2, at 2:30 p.m., Levy, a graduate of Queens College/CUNY and a part-time Montauk resident since 1981, will be at the Montauk Library to speak about Freedom Summer ’64, the effort led by black Mississippians to try to register voters — with support from student and other volunteers from around the country — after years of intimidation, harassment and violence.

After that historic summer, Levy taught social studies in a New York City junior high school and then Third World studies and community organizing at Queens College/CUNY. He left classroom teaching to work in the labor movement — first as a union organizer and later as an administrator in the electrical manufacturing and healthcare industries.

Levy’s talk is titled “One Teacher's Lessons Learned” and he begins his presentations by saying that he “learned more than he ever taught.” He uses his experiences and talks to illustrate the leadership role of local and grassroots activists, women, and young people in the Movement — and the impact of Mississippi Freedom Summer on his organizing and teaching.

Levy has continued to write and lecture both in the U.S. and abroad about Freedom Summer and “ordinary people working together to do extraordinary things.”

Levy is featured in the short PBS video: pbs.org/video/american-experience-mark-levy-teacher/.

Montauk Library is at 871 Montauk Highway, Montauk. Visit montauklibrary.org for more information.