IV 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 82 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 25, 2009 Mr. Thompson of Mississippi submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should be issued honoring James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.

Whereas James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were civil rights activists and political advocates who were murdered because of their involvement in the civil rights movement; Whereas the right to vote was routinely denied to many African-Americans in Mississippi in 1964; Whereas, in 1964, a broad-based coalition was formed in Mississippi to create Freedom Summer, a project dedicated to helping African-Americans in Mississippi earn equal rights, especially in regard to voting; Whereas, in 1964, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman volunteered to work in Freedom Summer, braving great personal danger; Whereas their relationship symbolizes the widespread participation of Jewish-Americans in the battle for civil rights; Whereas on June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were kidnapped and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, with the active assistance of local authorities; Whereas President Lyndon B. Johnson made the search for the missing men a top national priority; Whereas the United States Department of Justice charged the men with violations of the civil rights of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman; Whereas the deaths of these men created enough outrage to bring about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Whereas citizens throughout Mississippi and the Nation called for the case to be reopened; Whereas, in 2005, the Mississippi Attorney General prosecuted the case, and the main perpetrator, Edgar Ray Killen, was finally convicted of killing these 3 men; and Whereas the deaths of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman shall not be in vain: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the Congress that— (1)the United States Postal Service should issue a commemorative stamp honoring James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman; and (2)the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.