Mississippi Freedom Summer Flier"The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) was a coalition of civil rights organizations that formed in Mississippi in 1962 to coordinate voter registration efforts and broader equal rights reforms. In 1964, COFO launched Freedom Summer, in which thousands of local black Mississippians and hundreds of black and white students from out of state operated "Freedom Schools" and registered black voters. Though volunteers faced violent reprisals, their efforts crucially drew the attention of the nation on the obstacles black voters faced in the Deep South, which in turn led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965."