The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) was one of the first and largest Head Start programs in Mississippi. CDGM began in the summer of 1965, and in its first period served approximately 6,000 children in twenty-four counties. Maintaining strong ties to the civil rights movement, CDGM was designed not only to provide pre-school education, but also to continue the tradition of freedom schools, provide jobs for local people, and maximize the participation of poor people in anti-poverty programs.

In 1965, CDGM received its first grant from the United States Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which initiated Project Head Start as part of a federal anti-poverty program. This federal funding concerned Mississippi’s political leaders, particularly its United States senators, James Eastland and John Stennis, who accused the organization of mismanagement and of serving as a vehicle for civil rights activism. In the fall of 1966, OEO failed to renew funding for CDGM, instead awarding the majority of funds to a new Head Start organization called Mississippi Action for Progress (MAP), which had the support of Mississippi’s political establishment.

CDGM supporters then formed a new group, Friends of Children of Mississippi (FCM), to continue operating CDGM centers on a volunteer basis while they worked to regain federal funding. OEO restored limited funding to CDGM in December 1966, but excluded five counties from its jurisdiction. Representatives from four of the excluded counties—Humphreys, Clarke, Wayne, and Greene—decided to continue operating their centers voluntarily rather than affiliate with MAP. They retained the name Friends of Children of Mississippi and set up a formal organization. In 1968, FCM received its own funding from OEO.

Both CDGM and FCM strongly emphasized black awareness curricula and the involvement of parents and community members in running Head Start centers. FCM continues to operate Head Start programs across the state.

Marilyn Norma Lowen (Fletcher), a native of Detroit, Michigan, was an active participant in the Head Start movement in Mississippi from 1965 to 1968, working first for CDGM and later for FCM. In the early 1960s, Lowen studied dance and anthropology at Colorado College, Colorado; the New School for Social Research, New York; Bennington College, Vermont; and Wayne State University, Michigan. Her involvement with civil rights activism began in 1963 at Bennington, where she served on a committee to provide support to the movement. From 1963 through 1965, Lowen served as a tutor for a number of projects in New York and Michigan and volunteered for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Lowen first worked with CDGM during the month of August 1965, when she served as an instructor with the Living Arts program, traveling to CDGM centers around the state to provide arts instruction. In March 1966, after several months working on other projects outside of Mississippi, Lowen returned to CDGM and joined the staff of the teacher development department. She conducted workshops on music and movement and prepared books and filmstrips for use in CDGM classrooms. Lowen became a field program advisor in 1967, primarily serving centers in Madison and Leake counties. In 1968, she worked as field consultant for the pre-school department of FCM.

In 1968 or 1969, Lowen left Mississippi, moving to New York with her husband and fellow civil rights activist Bob Fletcher, a photographer and filmmaker. She continued to participate in various activist groups, particularly feminist organizations. In 1983, Lowen published a book of poetry, Vague (Fire Sign Press). She has also published poems in anthologies and journals.

Scope and Content:

This collection documents Marilyn Lowen’s work with the Child Development Group of Mississippi and Friends of Children of Mississippi between 1965 and 1968. It is divided into five series: Head Start program records; classroom and curriculum records; employee activity records; books; and printed material. Types of records in the collection include correspondence, memoranda, photographs, reports, handbooks, and printed material.

The contents of each folder reflect Lowen’s original arrangement of the materials, and file names assigned by Lowen have been altered only when necessary for clarification. Additional files were created to house unfoldered items in the original collection. In 1989, at the time of the collection’s donation, Lowen wrote notes about some of the items in the collection; these are included in the relevant folders.

Series Identification:

1. Head Start Program Records. 1964-1968; n.d. 26 folders.

   This series documents Marilyn Lowen’s work as an instructor and advisor for CDGM and FCM. Arranged in chronological order, the series includes minutes of field program advisor meetings, correspondence with out-of-state volunteers and teachers, memoranda of CDGM staff members, and project proposals. The records also pertain to teacher orientation and training programs, the Living Arts program, visual education, leadership training, fundraising for FCM, and Head Start centers in four counties (Leake, Madison, Newton, and Panola). Lowen’s folder of reports and notes for Area I (a particular region of CDGM centers) includes photographic proof-sheets documenting teacher workshops conducted in two towns in Panola County, Batesville and Sardis.

   Box 1, folders 1-26

2. Classroom and Curriculum Records. 1963-1968; n.d. 22 folders.

   This series consists of curricular materials designed for use in CDGM centers, arranged in alphabetical order by topic. The materials include teacher handbooks, classroom set-up guidelines, music books, and articles on learning theory and pre-school education. Topics covered in the records include art education, black studies, audiovisual resources, music and dance instruction, puppets, reading readiness, science projects, and writing curricula.

   Box 1, folders 27-38
   Box 2, folders 1-10

3. Employee Activity Records. 1965-1968. 7 folders.

   This series contains Marilyn Lowen’s timesheets and activity reports, as well as an inventory of CDGM personnel. It also includes printed material regarding personnel policies, hiring guidelines, and job descriptions.

   Box 2, folders 11-17

4. Books. 1965-1967; n.d. 9 folders.

   This series includes nine books written and published by CDGM. The stories and illustrations contained in many of the books were created by children in CDGM centers. Included are Pond (1965), The Hike (1966), The Tougaloo Book (1966), A Fishing Trip (1967), Zoo Book (1967) and The Bumble Bee Story (undated), as well as the prototype of a proposed book, The Dessert Book (1966). The series also contains two resource books for CDGM teachers, CDGM Teachers Helpful Hints on Discipline (undated) and From the Ground Up: A Book of Ideas for Pre-school Equipment (1967). In 1989, Lowen wrote descriptions of some of the books; these are included in the folders.

   Box 2, folders 18-26

5. Printed Material. 1965-1967; n.d. 7 folders.

   This series is comprised of printed material collected by Marilyn Lowen. Included are four issues of CDGM’s newsletter, printed guidelines on child development (with notes by Lowen), and pamphlets related to other civil rights organizations. The series also contains a position paper by the Atlanta Project, an affiliate of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, regarding the role of white volunteers in the civil rights movement, and a paper on the same issue by Alvin Poussaint.

   Box 2, folders 27-33