"What the Experts Say": A memo from Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) with a collection of quotes about CDGM taken from reports, letters, and statements to CDGM by consultants contracted to provide services to CDGM during the current grant funding period. All of the quotes highlight positive things about CDGM and Head Start.
In this memo from Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), the organization replies to charges made by Senator John Stennis and others. These accusations include an alleged $500,000 financial discrepancy that turned out to be only a $15,000 clerical error. CDGM responds to the charge that the organization has ties with Black Power activists.
“Fact Sheet”: a memo from Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) outlining the facts about CDGM and Head Start in Mississippi. The memo outlines funding, employees, training programs, committees, councils, board of directors, volunteer work, and statistics about participation in Head Start across the state.
This bibliography lists sources relating to Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and Head Start. Included are newspaper articles from Mississippi, Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
This flier announces a Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) public meeting at the College Park Auditorium at Jackson State College on Saturday Oct. 8, 1966, at 10am. The purpose of the meeting was to bring the community together to discuss ways to save CDGM from being overtaken by the state and federal governments.
A letter dated March 9, 1967, from Director Frederick R. Mangrum introducing Friends of Children of Mississippi, Inc., and seeking volunteers and financial assistance. Mr. Mangrum outlines the history of the organization and gives details about the issues caused by poverty for so many people in the state.
Hodding Carter III, Editor of the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times and board member of Mississippi Action for Progress (MAP), writes to the editors of the New York Times, the Washington Evening Star, and the Washington Post to clear up what he sees as inconsistencies and untruths in reporting about the formation of MAP and its role with Head Start.
Director of Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) John Mudd writes this letter to supporters of CDGM requesting continued support in the face of accusations of wrongdoing by the organization. Mr. Mudd lists some of the contributions CDGM and Head Start have made to communities in Mississippi.
A letter from John Mudd, director of Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) to supporters seeking input on a new funding proposal. The current funding was to expire on September 30, 1966, and CDGM is working to determine how to proceed with acquiring a new round of funding to keep Head Start in Mississippi operating.
Mike Manatos, Administrative Assistant to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, writes to Senator John Stennis about Head Start in Kemper County, Mississippi. Mr. Manatos writes to acknowledge an April 5th letter from Senator Stennis and assures him the letter is receiving careful attention from the president's office.
Senator John Stennis writes to President Lyndon Baines Johnson about Head Start in Kemper County, Mississippi. Senator Stennis is requesting that President Johnson forbid the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to operate Head Start units through Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in his home county.
This memo references a new board that was formed called Mississippi Action For Progress (MAP) to replace the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and take over Head Start operations in the state. The memo says that this decision was made without any input from CDGM or the people in the communities that Head Start serves.
A United States Government Memorandum from Lynn Kirk to The Task Force members working in four different areas of Mississippi with the subject “Head Start funding ground rules.” The memo details how to save money so Head Start can operate with $30 million of a needed $39 million in funding without having to reduce the number of children served.
Alfred Rhodes was part of the original 8-week Head Start program in Quitman County, Mississippi, as a teacher. He talks about his work as a teacher and his later work out of Tougaloo College to supervise Head Start Centers in 4 counties and going into communities to open new centers.
Anita Dixon became a Head Start student when she was 5 years old in 1968 in Mendenhall, Mississippi. She talks about her experience as a student, saying she learned things that prepared her to be an elementary student.
Annie Morganfield talks about sending her children to Head Start in 1966. She recounts going to community organizing meetings and informational sessions about the beginning of Head Start in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. She also talks about the experiences her children had in Head Start and other schools and touches on racial differences in schools.
Annie Smith was part of the group that started the first Head Start program in Edwards, Mississippi, in 1965. She talks about that process, including buying and renovating the building, hiring teachers, and recruiting students to get the program off the ground.
Barbara Strauss was a member of the board of directors of the Bethlehem Center in Jackson, Mississippi, a United Methodist Church organization that does work in impoverished communities. She talks about her extensive work in these communities and the Bethlehem Center sponsoring the opening of the first Head Start in Jackson.
Barbara Mason discusses the beginnings of Head Start in Utica, Mississippi, in 1965 and sending her daughter to attend the Head Start Center at St. Mark's Catholic Church. She goes on to talk about working at a Head Start center in Jackson, Mississippi, as a driver for the kids in the program.
Beatrice Coats talks about her involvement in voter registration work with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She talks extensively about her experiences helping to register people to vote in 1964, after being a registered voter herself since 1946. That work led her to helping open a Head Start Center in Hollandale, Mississippi.
Bessie Funches began work as a teacher at the first Head Start in Gulfport, Mississippi (Harrison County Head Start) in 1966 and worked as a resource teacher for that summer. In 1973, Ms. Funches became Special Service Director of Harrison County Head Start. She talks about her experiences in the classrooms with the students and other workers.
Bessie Warren took a job in 1972 at Lift Incorporated Community Action Agency in Tupelo, Mississippi, where she worked as a rotating teacher’s assistant. Later, she became Head Start Educational Coordinator and Career Development Officer, positions she had held for 12 years up to the time of the interview.
The estimated budget for funding Head Start in Mississippi from September 26, 1966, to September 29, 1967, the first year of Head Start operating in Mississippi. This budget proposal covered 13,500 Mississippi children in 170 centers across 37 counties. It also funded 20 administrative areas with staff and a central office in Jackson, Mississippi.
Carolyn Parker began working with the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in 1966 after years of working clerical jobs for different human rights organizations. She talks about her work in the Civil Rights Movement and the role of community organization in the beginning of Head Start.
Clarence Hall Jr. was a board member for the initial Head Start programs in Sharkey and Issaquena Counties (Mississippi) in 1965. He talks about joining the Army and being in England for 3 years during World War II. He says that the treatment he experienced with racism after coming home led to his work in the community and with Head Start.
Dr. Aaron Shirley began his work with Head Start while working with the Freedom Schools during Freedom Summer in 1964; many of those schools became part of Child Development Group (CDGM). Dr. Shirley talks about his role as a medical services provider for Head Start programs all over Mississippi as part of a team of Black doctors.
Dr. Albert Briton was the medical director for Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and Head Start from the start of the program, brought in by director John Mudd because white physicians in the state were refusing to work in the program. Dr. Briton talks about his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement leading him to work with CDGM.
Dr. Jim Hendrick's involvement with activism led him to work with Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) to offer medical examinations for Head Start students. He talks about recruiting other doctors as well as some of the medical conditions he saw during these exams. Incomplete, Side B of the recording is missing.
Dr. Rejohnna Brown was working as a teacher in the Delta region of Mississippi when she left her job in the summer of 1965 to join a group that were the forerunners to the region’s first Head Start program, which became known as the Mid Delta Education Association. Dr. Brown decided to do this work because of the poverty she witnessed in the area.
Dr. Robert Smith was founder of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, a Civil Rights Movement organization that fought for better treatment of African Americans in the 1960s. Dr. Smith continued this work as the Head Start medical director in the early days of the program. He talks about his responsibilities and experiences in that position.
