IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1293 
Commemorating the 44th anniversary of the deaths of civil rights workers 
Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner in Philadel-
phia, Mississippi, while working in the name of American democracy 
to register voters and secure civil rights during the summer of 1964, 
which has became known as ‘‘Freedom Summer’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 20, 2008 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. COHEN, 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. EDDIE 
BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. 
LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, and Ms. 
SUTTON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the 44th anniversary of the deaths of civil 
rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and 
Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi, while 
working in the name of American democracy to register 
voters and secure civil rights during the summer of 1964, 
which has became known as ‘‘Freedom Summer’’. 
Whereas 44 years ago, on June 21, 1964, Andrew Goodman, 
James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were murdered in 
Philadelphia, Mississippi, while working in the name of 
American democracy to register voters and secure civil 
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•HRES 1293 IH 
rights during the summer of 1964, which would become 
known as ‘‘Freedom Summer’’; 
Whereas Andrew Goodman was a 20-year-old White anthro-
pology major from New York’s Queens College, who vol-
unteered for the Freedom Summer Project; 
Whereas James Chaney was a 21-year-old African-American 
from Meridian, Mississippi, who became a civil rights ac-
tivist, joining the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 
1963 to work on voter education and registration; 
Whereas Michael ‘‘Mickey’’ Schwerner was a 24-year-old 
White CORE field secretary in Mississippi and a veteran 
of the civil rights movement, from Brooklyn, New York; 
Whereas in 1964, Mississippi had a Black voting-age popu-
lation of 450,000, but only 16,000 Blacks were registered 
to vote; 
Whereas most Black voters were disenfranchised by law or 
practice in Mississippi; 
Whereas in 1964, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Mi-
chael Schwerner volunteered to work as part of the 
‘‘Freedom Summer’’ project that involved several civil 
rights organizations, including the Mississippi State 
chapter of the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com-
mittee, and CORE, with the purpose of registering Black 
voters in Mississippi; 
Whereas on the morning of June 21, 1964, the 3 men left 
the CORE office in Meridian and set out for Longdale, 
Mississippi, where they were to investigate the recent 
burning of the Mount Zion Methodist Church, a Black 
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church that had been functioning as a Freedom School 
for education and voter registration; 
Whereas on their way back to Meridian, James Chaney, An-
drew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were detained 
and later arrested and taken to the Philadelphia, Mis-
sissippi, jail; 
Whereas later that same evening, on June 21, 1964, they 
were taken from the jail, turned over to the Ku Klux 
Klan, and were beaten, shot, and killed; 
Whereas 2 days later, their burnt, charred, gutted blue Ford 
station wagon was pulled from the Bogue Chitto Creek, 
just outside Philadelphia, Mississippi; 
Whereas the national uproar caused by the disappearance of 
the civil rights workers led President Lyndon B. Johnson 
to order Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to send 
200 active duty Navy sailors to search the swamps and 
fields in the area for the bodies of the 3 civil rights work-
ers, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to order 
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 
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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; 
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; 
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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 encour-
ages all Americans to— 
(1) pause and remember Andrew Goodman, 
James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner and the 44th 
anniversary 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 sacrifice in the name of civil rights and vot-
ing 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 legis-
lation to expand civil rights and voting rights for all 
Americans. 
Æ 
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