[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 166 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 166

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service 
   should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring civil rights 
 workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and the 
   ``Freedom Summer'' of 1964, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory 
Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp 
                               be issued.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2009

    Mr. Lewis of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Nadler of New York, Mr. 
   McDermott, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Holt, Mr. Filner, Mr. 
Conyers, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Norton, Mr. Johnson of 
    Georgia, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms. Kilpatrick of 
   Michigan, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, and Mr. Israel) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                    Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service 
   should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring civil rights 
 workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and the 
   ``Freedom Summer'' of 1964, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory 
Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp 
                               be issued.

Whereas ``Freedom Summer'' was a campaign in Mississippi to register African-
        American voters during the summer of 1964;
Whereas in 1964, most Black voters were disenfranchised by law or practice in 
        Mississippi;
Whereas this voting rights initiative was led by the Student Nonviolent 
        Coordinating Committee (SNCC), with the support of the Council of 
        Federated Organizations (COFO), which included the National Association 
        for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial 
        Equality (CORE), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
        (SCLC);
Whereas thousands of students and activists participated in two week orientation 
        sessions in preparation for the voter registration drive in Mississippi;
Whereas in 1962, at 6.7 percent of the State's Black population, Mississippi had 
        one of the lowest percentages of Black registered voters in the country;
Whereas three civil rights volunteers lost their lives in their attempts to 
        secure voting rights for Blacks;
Whereas Andrew Goodman was a White 20-year-old anthropology major from Queens 
        College who volunteered for the ``Freedom Summer'' project;
Whereas James Chaney was a 21-year-old African-American from Meridian, 
        Mississippi, who became a civil rights activist, joining the Congress of 
        Racial Equality (CORE) in 1963 to work on voter registration and 
        education;
Whereas Michael ``Mickey'' Schwerner was a 24-year-old White man from Brooklyn, 
        New York, who was a CORE field secretary in Mississippi and a veteran of 
        the civil rights movement;
Whereas on the morning of June 21, 1964, the three men left the CORE office in 
        Meridian, Mississippi, and set out for Longdale, Mississippi, where they 
        were to investigate the recent burning of the Mount Zion Methodist 
        Church, a Black church that had been functioning as a Freedom School for 
        education and voter registration;
Whereas the three civil rights workers were beaten, shot, and killed by members 
        of the Ku Klux Klan;
Whereas the national uproar in response to these brave men's deaths helped raise 
        the political capital necessary to bring about passage of the Voting 
        Rights Act of 1965; and
Whereas Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner's story will be told 
        to millions of Americans and their bravery will continue to inspire 
        generations to come through the issuance of a commemorative postage 
        stamp: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) a commemorative postage stamp should be issued by the 
        United States Postal Service honoring civil rights workers 
        Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and the 
        ``Freedom Summer'' of 1964;
            (2) the stamp honoring these three men should be based upon 
        the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) poster from 1964, which 
        was created by Danny Lyon, a prominent photographer of the 
        Civil Rights movement; and
            (3) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
        to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
                                 <all>