The Biographical Consequences of Activism

Abstract

Using survey data collected in 1983-84 on 212 participants in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project arul 118 individtutls who applied, were accepted, but did not take part in the project, the author seeks to assess the shortand long-term political and personal consequences of high-risk activism. Using both descriptive and inferential statistics, the author demonstrates a strong effect of participation on the subsequent lives of the volunteers and no-shows, The voltmteers were more politically active throughout the sixties than the no-shows arul remain so today. In addition, the volunteers are much less likely to be married and to have significantly lower incomes at present than are the rto-shows. Besides reporting these basic findings, the author seeks through path analysis to explore the specific factors and processes that mediate the impact of participation in Freedom Summer on the later lives of the volunteers.