FOR blacks in Mississippi, the summer and fall of 1971 have been the most hopeful months since the high-water mark of the civil rights movement in the mid-'60s. During the years since passage of the Voting Rights Act, voter-registration drives have put 275,000 new black voters on the rolls. In eleven counties, blacks hold voting majorities, and overall they now amount to 28% of the registered electorate. If all blacks of voting age were registered, they would make up 33% of the registered voters in the state. With Charles Evers, brother of slain Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers, spearheading an independent...
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