GREENWOOD, Mississipi — Melvin Williams, 64, plays pool in Odessa’s Place, a small one-room bar in the impoverished Baptist Town neighborhood of Greenwood. Odessa Nicks, 85, opened the bar in 1963 and has kept it going in old age so that she remains occupied. Williams pays $200 a month in rent to live in an apartment directly behind the bar.  Photo by Edmund D. Fountain, special to ProPublica © 2014 

Fifty years ago the United States was convulsed by its “Freedom Summer” — 10 bloody weeks that transformed the South. ProPublica journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has spent much of this year documenting the events that changed America. Facts and Opinions highlights two pieces from her series, with photographs by Edmund D. Fountain, in the Magazine.

Read  Ghosts of Greenwood, and Brutal Loss, Enduring Conviction

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VANCOUVER, Canada — Team USA rode their brooms to beat Australia for the gold in the final match of the Quidditch Global Games July 19 in Burnaby, a suburb of this Western Canadian city. Quidditch, a game invented by author J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter series of books and films, requires players to hold broomsticks between their legs. Matches are played with three types of balls all at once: one golden snitch, three bludgers and one quaffle. As well as the United States (1st) and Australia (2nd), the games involved Canada (bronze), the United Kingdom (4th), Mexico (5th), France (6th) and Belgium (7th). No wizards revealed their presence, although one child was dressed in a black robe that would not have been out of place at Hogwarts.The Global Games were one of several international Quidditch events held this year.  Quidditch has grown in popularity worldwide, starting mostly on university campuses and recently evolving into an internationally organized sport. Photo by Deborah Jones © 2014