United Freedom Movement. Freedom Schools.

The United Freedom Movement Freedom Schools was a mass boycott in protest of the racial segregation of Cleveland, Ohio public schools held on April 20, 1964. The United Freedom Movement of Cleveland directed the school boycott. Students from Cleveland public schools were directed to attend Freedom Schools for one day, held at area churches and with a curriculum consisting of black cultural and civil rights history, art, and music.

The United Freedom Movement Freedom Schools (f. 1964) was a mass boycott in protest of the racial segregation of Cleveland public schools on April 20, 1964. The United Freedom Movement of Cleveland, Ohio, directed the school boycott. Events leading to the boycott began in 1960, when a local television repairman named Levi Foster organized a group of African American activists called the Freedom Fighters of the Cleveland National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This group served as the first contact point with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In May of 1963, the Freedom Fighters established themselves officially as the United Freedom Movement (UFM). This organization concerned itself with picketing local businesses and demonstrating at government buildings in order to call attention to civil rights issues. By the end of 1963, the UFM brought attention to the segregation of Cleveland public schools and the gross inequalities in educational opportunities for blacks. The UFM picketed against the building of new schools that would continue to segregate against blacks. It was at one of these picketed construction sites that the Reverend Bruce Klunder was killed by accident on April 7, 1964. The incident raised racial tensions in Cleveland and the UFM to call for a mass school boycott on April 20. Students from contested Cleveland public schools were directed to attend Freedom Schools for one day. The Freedom Schools were held at area churches and staffed by people from all walks of life. The curriculum consisted of black cultural history, civil rights history, art, and music.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the United Freedom Movement