Dr. Carl Pomerance has carved a distinguished path for himself, as a celebrated American number theorist and professor at Dartmouth University; however, he also once paved a path for equality in America when he courageously stood up for change in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. 

Dr. Pomerance was born in 1944 in Joplin, Missouri, to a middle–class family, but his journey in the Civil Rights movement started later in 1964 when he was an undergraduate student at Brown University. 

Dr. Pomerance had a very notable thought that he included as context. He stated, “I believe the organizers of Mississippi Freedom Summer thought that if white college students were put at risk of violence, the country would take note and that things might change. They were right.” 

Voting is a cornerstone of our country and one, if not the most enshrined rights in our Constitution, so it’s hard to imagine a time when people could not vote solely based on their skin. Unfortunately, many Americans not only remember this not–too–long–ago time but lived through it. 

Following the Civil War, Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments, theoretically allowing freed slaves the right to vote. However, many states in the South were able to bypass these amendments by systemically enforcing literacy tests and poll taxes in voter registration systems to disenfranchise black voters. 

However, this resulted in an extreme black voter registration deficiency in Mississippi, as only 6.7 percent of African Americans were registered voters at the beginning of the project, according to the Black Congressional Caucus Committee. This percentage was the lowest in the entire country. 

In 1964, students from affluent families and colleges (primarily White students), decided to stand up for equal rights and head South in the summer, for what would now be known as the Freedom Summer Movement of 1964.

While this experience, on a large scale, was empowering for Dr. Pomerance, there were also harrowing aspects and prominent dangers lurking around every corner towards the volunteers. 

In fact, Dr. Pomerance would arrive in Mississippi just around the same time as three other civil rights volunteers, participating in the same movement, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman would arrive. However, those young men quickly went missing. 

After a strenuous investigation, it turned out that they were brutally murdered by the local police, in an act of hate, simply because of their peaceful participation in the movement. Dr. Pomerance recounts not only this but also direct oppression towards him and other fellow volunteers. 

However, this did not deter the volunteers, it did the opposite. This only furthered their drive to stick up for not just Black Mississippians and their right to vote but for voting rights everywhere. 

The Mississippi Freedom Project catalyzed the advancement of African Americans across the United States. Freedom Summer was among the first times the civil rights movement got national media attention. Freedom Summer influenced the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The impact and influence of Freedom Summer led to Johnson’s signing on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a crucial turning point in enfranchising African Americans. Freedom Summer gave the United States a blueprint for a successful, student–organized movement. As a result, the Civil Rights Movement gained new members from different backgrounds and influenced later movements, like the Selma to Montgomery marches. Joining the movement became more accessible to people from different identities and perspectives. 

While the movement was a huge step for African Americans everywhere, Dr. Pomerance wanted to add a key reminder that we all need to continuously and consciously remember. He stated, “It was one small part of the Civil Rights Movement, which as a whole made a huge difference in America. It’s still ongoing.” 

After the summer, Dr. Pomerance returned to his studies at Brown University and would later receive his Ph.D. from Harvard University. 

Since then, he has received several accolades for his excellence in mathematics and currently teaches at math at Dartmouth University. While Dr. Pomerance is now a professor and distinguished American numbers theorist, the pivotal summer of ’64 and the act of standing up for those who can’t will forever stay with him.

It is important to remember the history of our nation, but it is especially important to remember the more unsavory events, in an effort to not repeat history. While significant progress for equal rights in America has been made, in his closing remarks, Dr. Pomerance stated, “There are many threats [in our country] to have things return to an earlier time when oppression was normalized.”