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Dave Dennis | |
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| Born | David J. Dennis 1940 (age 85–86) near Omega,Louisiana |
| Known for | Civil rights activism |
David J. Dennis is acivil rights activist whose involvement began in the early 1960s. Dennis grew up in the segregated area ofOmega,Louisiana.[1] He worked as a co-director of theCouncil of Federated Organizations (COFO), as director of Mississippi'sCongress of Racial Equality (CORE), and as one of the organizers of theMississippi Freedom Summer of 1964.[2] Dennis worked closely with bothBob Moses andMedgar Evers as well as with members of SNCC, theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. His first involvement in theCivil Rights Movement was at a Woolworth sit-in organized by CORE and he went on to become a Freedom Rider in 1961. Since 1989, Dennis has put his activism toward theAlgebra Project, a nonprofit organization run by Bob Moses that aims to improve mathematics education for minority children.[3] Dennis also speaks publicly about his experiences in the movement through an organization called Dave Dennis Connections.[2]
Dave Dennis was born in 1940 on a plantation of a sharecropper in Omega, Louisiana.[1] All he knew was a life of segregation, he says in one interview withEbony magazine, "I grew up in this life where you had to stay in your place."[4] Dennis grew up extremely poor, in the Shreveport area where people did not have even the most basic utilities and he did not know what it was like to have these basic utilities until he was nine years old. Even after Dennis' family moved to the inner city of Louisiana, black citizens, including his family, were "only able to get basic utilities by entering white territory."[1] He was the first of his family to graduate from high school. He graduated from Southern High School which was connected to Southern University where the beginnings of student protests were forming. Dennis during this time in his life wasn't interested in being a part of any protests or demonstrations, he says, "I didn’t have this interest in civil rights that you might think most people are born with".[4] He did not want any part of the civil rights activism, "Things were happening [in the country] and I was trying to run from them”.[1]
Dave Dennis attendedDillard University inNew Orleans and continued to ignore the civil rights protests until he metDoris Castle, who supported the movement, and became involved with the movement through her. "She was handing out meeting flyers and speaking to a group of students on campus one afternoon. I thought she was cute, walked over to talk to her after her presentation and, sooner than I realized, agreed to attend a CORE demonstration," Dennis said.[4] This was Dennis' first demonstration, as part of asit-in at aWoolworth store in New Orleans.[4]
| External videos | |
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 “Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Dave Dennis” conducted in 1985 for theEyes on the Prize documentary in which he discusses Freedom Summer, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, and his reaction to their murders. Also Dennis' work with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) in Mississippi, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's challenge to the official Democratic Party. |
Dennis was one of theFreedom Riders to continue the original Freedom Ride from Alabama toJackson, Mississippi in 1961. The freedom ride was the turning point in his activism. Dennis dropped out of school and started this new path of his life,[4] although he eventually received hisBachelor of Arts andBachelor of Science degrees fromDillard University and aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of Michigan Law School.[3] Dennis established CORE presence in Mississippi.[5] He helped his local community by setting up a Home Industry Cooperative inRuleville, which consisted of eighteen local women who made rugs, quilts, and aprons to sell to northern civil rights supporters. Dennis also spent time inHattiesburg where he met a local woman, Mattie Bivins, whom he married.[6]
Dennis was frustrated with CORE's lack of support in Mississippi, however, CORE wasn't pleased with Dennis’ strategie. The organization was not pleased because Dennis did not care which organization got the credit for the successes of the movement, yet CORE still valued Dave Dennis. Dennis wanted to establish a voter registration drive inMadison County, Mississippi, as Dennis believed it was an optimal location for a CORE project because Black people made up a majority of the county's population.[citation needed] Dennis proposed to CORE that Canton was in close proximity toTougaloo College, which made it possible to involve college students in the voter registration drive. CORE agreed, but after two years of violence from the police and threats from theKu Klux Klan, they were unable to organize the Black communities in Madison County.[6]
In 1964, Dennis and Moses’ plan for the Freedom Summer came to life. Dennis brought in white Northerners to bring national attention to the movement, as he knew that white injuries or deaths would bring more media attention. However, during that summer, a tragedy occurred asthree of the Freedom Summer volunteers were killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Dennis was impacted greatly by these deaths because he had worked with the volunteers that were killed, and he was originally supposed to be with them, but was not with them because he hadbronchitis. Dennis felt at fault for their deaths, stating "I feel very responsible forChaney and them...you never get over that. I guess I will live with it until the day I die."[6] Dennis gave an impassioned eulogy at James Chaney's funeral, part of which was recreated in the filmMississippi Burning.[7]
The deaths ofAndrew Goodman,Michael Schwerner, and Chaney left Dennis cynical and skeptical of the methods and the cost of the Southern Freedom movement.[6]
After Dennis disconnected himself from Mississippi, he went to theUniversity of Michigan Law School, received aJuris Doctor degree, and eventually opened a legal practice inLafayette, Louisiana.[2] In 1989, At a reunion for the anniversary of the Freedom Summer, Dennis reconnected withBob Moses, and learned of his project to teach algebra to sixth graders in inner-city schools, which interested Dennis. Moses and Dennis wanted to expand the program into the Black public schools of theMississippi Delta. They expanded the Algebra Project into Mississippi as well as Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas.[6] As of 2014, Dennis maintained the position of director and CEO of the Southern Initiative of the Algebra Project[3]
Dennis's son, David Dennis Jr., conducted in-depth interviews with his father, supplemented with extensive collateral research, which he edited into a first-person memoir of Dennis's years in The Movement. Interspersed with letters from Dennis, Jr. to his father, the book reflects on that experience, including the phenomenon of "survivors' guilt," as well as the impact on their father-son relationship.[8] Published in 2022, the book is titledThe Movement Made Us.[9] Dennis Jr. is the winner of the 2021American Mosaic Journalism Prize.[10][11]
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