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At the James Meredith March in Mississippi
Cobb sits with Stokely Carmichael and Floyd McKissick at the James Meredith March in 1966.
Maria Varela/Takestock
Registering Mississippians to Vote
Robert Moses, Martha Prescod, and Mike Miller trying to convince black Mississippians to register to vote in 1962. Cobb joined the effort in Sunflower County, mainly in the tiny town of Ruleville.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
Freedom Songs in Atlantic City
SNCC chairman James Forman, Stokely Carmichael, and Cobb singing freedom songs on the Atlantic City boardwalk in August 1964. Cobb and others attended the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey to represent the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which was formed by civil rights activists and Mississippians to challenge the legitimacy of the all-white Democratic Party.
© 1976 George Ballis/TakeStock
FBI search for missing Civil Rights workers
An FBI poster requesting information on Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, three civil rights workers who disappeared on June 21, 1964. Murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, their bodies were found in a shallow grave in Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 29. The slayings underscored the risks to the work Cobb and others were undertaking in the state.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
A White Citizens Council rally in New Orleans in 1960.
Cobb’s voter registration work in Mississippi took him to the town of Indianola in Sunflower County, the birthplace of the “white supremacist” organization.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Stokely Carmichael
A picture of Stokely Carmichael in Atlanta in 1966, with Cobb in the background.
Julius Lester
Charles Cobb
A close-up portrait of Charles Cobb taken by SNCC photographer Julius Lester in 1966.
Julius Lester
Bob Dylan at the SNCC office
Musician Bob Dylan plays his guitar on the back porch of the SNCC office in Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1963. Cobb’s first experience upon arriving in the state in 1962 was rushing to the Greenwood office after hearing that armed Klan members were trying to break down the door.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
SNCC sit-in at a Toddle House restaurant
During a visit to Atlanta in the winter of 1963-64, Cobb participates in an SNCC sit-in at a Toddle House restaurant. With him are James Forman, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Willie Ricks, and Stokely Carmichael.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
1962 Voter Registration Drive
Cobb (second from the left), Charles McLaurin, and Jesse Harris at a Mississippi Delta church during their 1962 voter registration drive. Cobb did not intend to stay in Mississippi, but once there he felt compelled to stay and help the cause.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
Working for black voter registration.
A 1964 photo of Fannie Lou Hamer demonstrating for black voter registration. Hamer was one of a small group of people Cobb escorted from Ruleville to the Sunflower County courthouse to register to vote in August 1962. Evicted from her home for doing so, Hamer became a symbol of bravery and resolve for the civil rights movement.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
Freedom Songs in Atlantic City
Charles Cobb and other members of SNCC singing on the boardwalk in Atlantic City on August 10, 1964, during the Democratic National Convention.
© 1976 George Ballis/TakeStock
The challenges faced by new voters in Mississippi
By registering to vote, blacks in Mississippi faced eviction, job loss, or much worse, but many took the risks to assert their rights. Cobb aided in this effort, walking down rural dirt roads with registration forms in hand, trying to convince African-Americans to overcome pervasive fear and intimidation.
© 1976 Matt Heron/TakeStock
Freedom School Banner
A banner made by students at a Mississippi Freedom School in 1964. Cobb was the original force behind the creation of the network of schools intended to foster political participation and educate young black Mississippians about history and their rights as citizens.
© 1976 George Ballis/TakeStock
Friendship Baptist Church in 1964
Cobb (far right) in attendance at a memorial service at Friendship Baptist Church in 1964.
AM 11-64 Whyte (Iain) Civil Rights Collection.