THEATER AS AN EMANCIPATORY TOOL - CLASSROOM DRAMA IN THE MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM SCHOOLS

In 1964, a civil rights project known as Freedom Summer took place in the state of Mississippi, USA. The project was organized by the Studen t Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Council of Federate d Organizations (COFO). The purpose of the project was to invite to Mi ssissippi over a thousand college students from the North to help Afri can Americans to register to vote. Part of the project included a six- week summer school programme for elementary and secondary school Afric an American students known as Freedom Schools. Freedom Schools provide d a progressive civics curriculum that empowered students to improve t heir local communities. A number of methods were incorporated to help students participate in the civics curriculum. Drama proved to be very popular in most of the Freedom Schools, providing both a forum for di scussion of real problems and a means of social action. This essay des cribes a brief history of the Freedom School project, the origins of d rama use, the reasons drama was considered important in the project, a description of drama use in five Freedom Schools, and a theoretical f ramework of the Freedom School drama experience.