The MFDP and the 1964 Convention

Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to contest a state Democratic organization that excluded Black voters. At the 1964 national convention, the MFDP sought recognition as Mississippi’s legitimate delegation.

Her televised credentials testimony described the violence and intimidation surrounding Black political participation in Mississippi. Although the party leadership did not seat the full MFDP delegation, the challenge exposed the contradiction between national democratic claims and exclusion within a state party.