Wednesdays in Mississippi was founded by Polly Cowan (a Jewish woman) and Dorothy Height (an African American woman). They wanted to get teams of interracial, interfaith Northern women to learn about the situation in the South and to support their Southern counterparts. The model was for women to prepare on Tuesday, for the Northern women to go down to Mississippi and do service work on Wednesday (staying in the homes of their Southern counterparts) and return to the North on Thursday or Friday. Their work was often connected to Freedom Summer and Freedom Schools. While there, these women/community leaders would also keep any eye on the safety of women and youth doing Civil Rights work in Mississippi.