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his Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, J. 
Edgar Hoover, to send 150 agents to Mississippi to work 
on the case; 
Whereas the FBI investigation lead to the discovery of the 
bodies of several other African-Americans from Mis-
sissippi, whose disappearances over the previous several 
years had not attracted attention outside their local com-
munities; 
Whereas the bodies of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and 
Michael Schwerner, beaten and shot, were found on Au-
gust 4, 1964, buried under a mound of dirt; 
Whereas on December 4, 1964, 21 White Mississippians from 
Philadelphia, Mississippi, including the sheriff and his 
deputy, were arrested, and the Department of Justice 
charged them with conspiring to deprive Andrew Good-
man, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner of their civil 
rights, since murder was not a Federal crime; 
Whereas on December 10, 1964, the same day Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize, a 
United States District judge dismissed charges against 
the 21 men accused of depriving the 3 civil right workers 
of their civil rights by murder; 
Whereas in 1967, after an appeal to the Supreme Court and 
new testimony, 7 individuals were found guilty, but 2 of 
the defendants, including Edgar Ray Killen, who had 
been strongly implicated in the murders by witnesses, 
were acquitted because the jury came to a deadlock on 
their charges; 
Whereas on January 6, 2005, a Neshoba County, Mississippi, 
grand jury indicted Edgar Ray Killen on 3 counts of 
murder;
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Whereas on June 21, 2005, a jury convicted Edgar Ray 
Killen on 3 counts of manslaughter; 
Whereas June 21, 2008, will be the 44th anniversary of An-
drew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner’s 
ultimate sacrifice; 
Whereas by the end of Freedom Summer, volunteers, includ-
ing Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael 
Schwerner, helped register 17,000 African-Americans to 
vote; 
Whereas the national uproar in response to the deaths of 
these brave men helped create the necessary climate to 
bring about passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; 
Whereas Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael 
Schwerner worked for freedom, democracy and equal jus-
tice under the law for all; and 
Whereas the Federal Government should find an appropriate 
way to honor these courageous young men and their con-
tributions to civil rights and voting rights: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives encourages 
all Americans to— 
(1) pause and remember Andrew Goodman, James 
Chaney, and Michael Schwerner and the 44th anniver-
sary of their deaths; 
(2) commemorate the life and work of Andrew 
Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and 
all of the other brave Americans who made the ultimate
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sacrifice in the name of civil rights and voting rights for 
all Americans; and 
(3) commemorate and acknowledge the legacy of the 
brave Americans who participated in the civil rights 
movement and the role that they played in changing the 
hearts and minds of Americans and creating the political 
climate necessary to pass legislation to expand civil 
rights and voting rights for all Americans. 
Attest: 
Clerk.