[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5807-H5811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING THE 44TH ANNIVERSARY OF FREEDOM SUMMER
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the resolution (H. Res. 1293) 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 become known as ``Freedom
Summer''.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 1293
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 rights
during the summer of 1964, which would become known as
``Freedom Summer'';
Whereas Andrew Goodman was a 20-year-old White anthropology
major from New York's 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 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
population 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 Michael
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
[[Page H5808]]
Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, 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 church
that had been functioning as a Freedom School for education
and voter registration;
Whereas on their way back to Meridian, James Chaney, Andrew
Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were detained and later
arrested and taken to the Philadelphia, Mississippi, 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 workers, 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 Mississippi,
whose disappearances over the previous several years had not
attracted attention outside their local communities;
Whereas the bodies of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and
Michael Schwerner, beaten and shot, were found on August 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 Goodman, 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
Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner's
ultimate sacrifice;
Whereas by the end of Freedom Summer, volunteers, including
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 justice under the law
for all; and
Whereas the Federal Government should find an appropriate
way to honor these courageous young men and their
contributions to civil rights and voting rights: Now,
therefore, 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 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 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E.
Lungren) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
General Leave
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have
5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may
consume.
I am so pleased to bring this resolution from the Judiciary Committee
to remember the deaths of those three great civil rights workers. And
I, of course, begin my comments by thanking and commending our greatest
civil rights champion in the House of Representatives, John Lewis of
Georgia, who was a leader in the civil rights movement, worked with the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and with Dr. Martin Luther
King, and with other civil rights organizations. He was also at the
great march on Washington in 1963, and we all met.
It was a stirring moment in American history, and these three young
men paid with their lives for their dedication to ensure that we could
end segregation and secure the right to vote for all people in America.
A number of Judiciary Committee members have joined with me as
cosponsors of this measure: the gentleman from New York, Jerrold
Nadler; Steve Cohen, Tennessee; Bobby Scott of Virginia; Sheila
Jackson-Lee, Texas; Adam Schiff, California; Linda Sanchez, California;
Betty Sutton, Ohio; and a number of others.
You remember the summer of 1964? Goodman, a student at New York's
Queens College; James Chaney of Mississippi; Michael Schwerner, 24
years old of New York, were all working with the CORE, the Congress of
Racial Equality. And they left the Meridian, Mississippi, office for
the town of Philadelphia 25 miles away. They were stopped by the Klan,
and the rest is history.
We still work against the backdrop of this activity. It was out of
their sacrifices that the movement and understanding of not only the
citizens of the country but the leaders of the country and Washington
understood what we had to accomplish. And we passed the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King's
inspiring rhetoric kept us together for so, so long, and I'm happy that
we're doing what we've done. I'm sure the Senate, the other body, will
follow very rapidly.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1293, honoring Andrew
Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner: Mr. Goodman, a 20-year-old
student volunteer; Mr. Chaney, a 21-year-old plasterer and activist in
the civil rights movement; Mr. Schwerner, a 24-year-old founder of one
of the first community centers for African Americans in Mississippi.
Mr. Chaney and Mr. Schwerner were also members of the civil rights task
force organized by the Congress of Racial Equality.
All three were tragically killed in 1964, that summer, for their
participation in the civil rights campaign in Mississippi, where they
had just taken part, along with 175 other volunteers, in a civil rights
orientation project, which led the way for some 800 other volunteers.
I had just graduated from high school in California, and I remember
the shock of hearing about this tragedy. It was one in a series of
tragedies we were seeing portrayed around the United States, where
people just simply attempting to be recognized as full human beings in
this society, with the opportunity to vote and the opportunity to
participate in the political process, were being denied that, and they
and many others attempted to try and change that.
That summer, these three men were picked up by a sheriff for
allegedly speeding, and after their release from jail, they
disappeared.
A KKK informant and an FBI investigation pieced the story together.
Evidently, after their release, the three men had been chased off the
road, forced into a Klansmen's car, brutally beaten, and killed.
At the time, the State of Mississippi didn't file charges against
anyone. The Federal Government charged someone in 1967 with conspiring
to violate the civil rights of another, but that defendant was
acquitted. Of seven other men convicted on conspiracy charges, no one
served more than 6 years for the
[[Page H5809]]
death of three innocent individuals in this United States of America.
It was not until January 6, 2005, that Mississippi indicted Edgar Ray
Killen on three counts of murder. He was found guilty of three counts
of manslaughter on June 1, 2005, the 41st anniversary of the crime.
There is no doubt that justice so delayed warrants our honoring these
three civil rights heroes again today, some 44 years after their death.
Last year, the House passed H.R. 923, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil
Rights Crime Act, which came out of our committee with bipartisan
support, and it directs the Attorney General to designate a deputy
chief within the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and
a supervisory special agent within the Civil Rights Unit of the FBI to
coordinate the investigation and prosecution of unsolved civil rights-
era murders.
{time} 1500
We've got to do it now because the perpetrators of these crimes have
been able to live in freedom for so long.
And some say why go after old men in their last years? Because, in
fact, they should not have the opportunity to live out their lives
without being held responsible for these horrendous acts. The bill also
provides much-needed resources to the Department of Justice, the FBI,
State and local law enforcement officials to prosecute these cases.
Madam Speaker, the FBI has identified nearly 100 outstanding cases
that still need to be assessed. Many of these murders are 30 or 40
years old. Obviously they're difficult to investigate and to prosecute
because evidence has been lost or destroyed, witnesses and defendants
have died, and memories have dimmed. We must act quickly to bring the
long-overdue justice to these victims and their families.
I urge all my colleagues to join the chairman of the full committee
and other members of the Judiciary Committee in supporting this
resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I thank the floor manager for his
statement and his commitment across the years for civil rights
activity.
I yield all but 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from
Georgia, John Lewis, whose work and writings and the history that he
has made in this area are well known across this country and, indeed,
around the world.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Conyers, the
chairman of the full committee, for his leadership and for his
dedication to the issue and the cause of civil rights, and for bringing
this resolution to the floor.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the courage and
conviction of three young men, Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Michael
Schwerner. On June 21, 1964, they gave their lives in a struggle for
voting rights in America.
There was a time, just 44 years ago, when it was almost impossible in
the American south for people of color to register and vote. Then, I
was 24 years old and the chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee, better known as SNCC. I traveled around the country
encouraging young people to come to Mississippi to get involved with
the Freedom Summer. It was the summer of 1964.
At that time, the State of Mississippi had a black population of
voting age of more than 450,000, but only about 18,000 blacks were
registered to vote. It was dangerous, very dangerous, for those of us
who believed that everyone should have the right to vote. But in spite
of the risks, there were people--young and old, black and white, rich
and poor--people like Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner,
who put aside the comfort of their own lives to make sure that every
citizen had free and fair access to the ballot, not only in
Mississippi, but throughout America.
Mickey Schwerner was a 24-year-old white man from Brooklyn, New York,
who was already a participant in the movement. Andy Goodman was also
white, a 21-year-old student at Queens College in New York. James
Chaney was a 21-year-old African American man from Meridian,
Mississippi, who decided to take a stand for justice in his own
community, in his own State.
On the morning of June 21, 1964, these three young men drove to
Longdale, Mississippi to investigate the burning of an African American
church. On their way back, they were arrested, at least stopped and
detained by the sheriff and taken to jail in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
That same evening they were released from the jail by the sheriff and
turned over to the Klan. They were beaten, shot and killed. Their burnt
blue Ford station wagon was pulled from a creek just 2 days later. I
joined in the search for them that night with a very heavy heart. Their
bodies were found a few weeks later, about 6 weeks later, on August 4,
1964, buried under a mound of dirt.
Madam Speaker, I share this story today so that Members of Congress
will realize that the struggle for civil rights has been a long, hard
road littered by the battered and broken bodies of countless men and
women who paid the ultimate price for a precious right, the right to
vote, the right to participate in a democratic process.
Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner did not die in
Europe; they did not die in Asia or in Africa; they did not die in
Central America or in the Middle East. They died right here in America,
in the American south. I knew these three young men.
So, Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this
resolution to pay tribute to these three young men and so many others
who died in the struggle for voting rights in America. We must never
forget their sacrifices, their suffering, their pain, and their death.
As Members of the United States House of Representatives, it is our
duty, our mission, our mandate to make sure that these three young men
did not die in vain.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I'm delighted now to yield 2 minutes to
Dr. James McDermott of Washington State, a dedicated leader for
universal health coverage and a civil rights activist. We were at the
United Nations together not too many years ago.
(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I am really very proud to rise in
support of a resolution put forward by my friend and colleague, John
Lewis. This is a man who has risked his own life fighting for civil
rights, helping to bridge a racial divide during one of America's worst
times.
This was a time when it took real courage to go out in the streets
and do things. John walked with Martin and with John and with Bobby as
they dealt with the threats of racial violence. There was clearly fear
in everyone. Anybody who went out was fearful; if they didn't, they
didn't know what they were doing.
John Lewis is a towering figure who, in his own right, has left his
mark in this country. And it is fitting and proper that he should bring
a resolution honoring these three civil rights workers whose lives
ended 44 years ago in Mississippi at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan.
Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were killed in
that Freedom Summer of 1964. The widow of one of them is now a
distinguished lawyer and a good friend in Seattle. She lives on in the
memory of her husband.
Their deaths sparked a national firestorm of anger and awareness that
led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Honoring them
honors everyone who fought for civil rights and those who suffered
great personal sacrifice during times when justice was neither blind
nor fair in America.
It reminds me of the injustice America is only beginning to correct
for a group of African American soldiers stationed in Fort Lawton in
Seattle. Because of the color of their skin, they were denied equal
justice and they were wrongly convicted of a crime that they did not
commit, were sent to prison, and were given bad conduct discharges.
We must never forget the lessons of history or we risk repeating
them.
The resolution Mr. Lewis of Georgia offers will help us remain
vigilant in defending civil rights and civil liberties, and help us
protect the Nation these people died to defend.
I urge my colleagues to strongly support the resolution offered by
Mr. Lewis of Georgia.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from
Washington State.
[[Page H5810]]
I now yield 2\1/2\ minutes to a former chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus, the gentlelady from Dallas, Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice
Johnson).
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I thank the gentleman from
Michigan.
I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 1293, a bill
commemorating the lives of three civil rights activists who were
murdered outside Philadelphia, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan in June
of 1964.
In 1964, Mississippi had the lowest percentage of registered African
American voters in the country. Rampant fear and intimidation, along
with literacy tests and poll taxes, had kept more than 90 percent of
the African Americans in Mississippi from registering to vote. In June
of 1964, thousands of young people volunteered to go to Mississippi in
order to register African American voters and fight educational
disparities.
What would come to be known as ``Freedom Summer'' ignited backlash
and violence against these volunteers and civil rights activists. Many
homes and black churches were firebombed or burned down that summer,
and more than 1,000 volunteers were arrested. Among these Freedom
Summer volunteers were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael
Schwerner, who went to Mississippi to investigate the fire-bombing of
the Mount Zion Methodist Church. On June 21, these three men were
arrested and held for several hours on alleged traffic violations, but
later that evening they were taken from the jail and turned over to the
Ku Klux Klan, where they were beaten, shot and killed.
These men gave their lives in the name of freedom and justice. The
media coverage surrounding their deaths sparked outrage amongst
Americans, millions of them all over the country. Their deaths and the
activities of Freedom Summer helped set the stage for the passage of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I would like very much to thank Congressman Lewis for introducing
this resolution, who himself has a closer experience than most of us in
this body, and as a matter of fact paved the way for many of us to be
here today.
I thank you, Congressman Lewis, for the many sacrifices you have
made. And it is an honor to serve alongside Congressman Lewis, who
coordinated the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee's efforts
to organize voter registration drives and community action programs
during Freedom Summer.
I strongly support this resolution to honor the sacrifices of James
Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and all of the volunteers
of the Mississippi Freedom Summer who helped to pave the way of voting
rights for all Americans.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I am pleased now to yield 3 minutes to
the gentlelady from the District of Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a
brilliant lawyer who argues in the Supreme Court frequently and is a
civil rights leader in her own right.
Ms. NORTON. This entire House has you, Mr. Chairman, to thank for a
lifetime of work in civil rights and human rights for all people, I
thank you here on the floor.
I thank my good colleague who serves on the Judiciary Committee. And
I especially thank my colleague, John Lewis, who was chair of the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee when I first joined. And I
think I can say for John and me that either of us expected to be on the
floor of this House at that time.
I thank you, John. I'm not surprised that you would come forward with
this resolution. For me, it would be too poignant an occasion but for
the progress that I think we can say assures that these brutal murders,
the murders that we came to call the ``Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman
murders,'' certainly have not been in vain.
In 1963, Bob Moses, a legendary figure of the Mississippi movement,
recruited me while I was in law school to go to Mississippi. SNCC had
opened up virtually everyplace else, but not Mississippi because,
frankly, it was terrorist country. And to show you the extent to which
Mississippi was a different place, it took the NAACP and Medgar Evers
to lead the sit-ins there, and they got beat unmercifully. And that was
in Jackson.
I came to the Mississippi Delta that year for an express purpose, to
prepare for the 1964 Freedom Summer, by conducting the prototype
``freedom school'' to be used in 1964, when we knew we would be able to
gather thousands of students to come down. It was the high point of
student activism. John and others went throughout the United States and
students came in huge numbers. We had the highest hopes.
I was particularly working on the 1964 Democratic Convention with my
mentor, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Larry Guyout, who now lives here, the
cochairs of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and, working
indeed, on the brief that would be used to say that this delegation,
rather than the official delegation which excluded African Americans,
should be recognized by the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
{time} 1515
And why was there a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party? Because,
indeed, in the summer of 1964, so many had come down to risk their
lives for whom that had to have been their choice. Those high hopes
were not extinguished when our delegation did not get seated. Those
high hopes were not even extinguished when these brutal murders
occurred. It took authorities weeks to find the three young men. Those
high hopes remained high and, if anything, thrust the civil rights
movement forward in a way it had not been before.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman the balance of my
time.
Ms. NORTON. How much time do we have, please, Madam Speaker? I don't
want to go over.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has 4\1/2\ minutes.
Ms. NORTON. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I won't take much longer, but
this is a very special moment.
In 1963 when I went to Mississippi, I first worked for the March on
Washington under Bayard Rustin, then went to the Mississippi Delta.
That was, I must say, the most eventful summer of my life, more
eventful even than 1964.
The great chief of the Mississippi NAACP Medgar Evers put me on a
bus. Medgar Evers tried to convince me to stay in Jackson, but I said,
no, that I had promised I was coming to the Delta. So he put me on a
bus to go to the Delta. He then turned around, went back home, and he
was shot and killed in his driveway that same evening. That was a year
I shall never forget.
But the fact is that the 1964 summer, in fact, happened. The students
did not go home after the murders. We continued to organize. The
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, with Fannie Lou Hamer leading the
way at the convention, was the high point of that convention. And the
country has never forgotten it. It democratized the Democratic Party.
It democratized even the Republican Party. And I must say that both
parties then recognized that they had to have representative
delegations.
Steve Schwerner Michael's brother was one of my classmates in
college. When I have met with the families, what has been extraordinary
about them is to see that they understand the contributions they
personally made to the freedom struggle. They have no regrets. They
understand that the loss of Cheney and the two youngsters from the
north was the last thing we expected and that that loss helped to waken
the country.
Do not forget what happened in 1964. The passage of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, and that act contained Title VII. Something else I could
never have imagined--I would one day come to enforce a major civil
right's law, the 1964 Civil Right's Act as a Chair of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. This was the first civil rights
legislation since the radical Republicans gave us our first civil
rights legislation after the Civil War, and look what happened
afterwards: the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
Oh, no, these three young men died for a great and noble purpose. And
in case the national panorama doesn't drive that point home, surely the
fact that Mississippi today has the largest number of black public
officials will
[[Page H5811]]
help you to see that they did not die in vain, and surely the fact that
their relatives now see the first African American to secure the
nomination of a major party for President of the United States will
drive home the reality that these three young men, at the dawn of their
lives, not only did not die in vain but for generations to come and,
yes, for this generation, have left a legacy of their own.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
Once again, I rise in support of H. Res. 1293.
David McCullough, the distinguished writer and historian, said, ``We
run the risk of being a Nation of historic illiterates.'' And he was
referring to our lack of knowledge of the beginnings of this country,
the lack of knowledge of the Founding Fathers and that generation. But
he need not look back that far. All he needs to do is to look back 40
some years, as the gentleman from Georgia has mentioned to us and the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia and the gentleman from
Michigan.
We cannot allow these real-life tragedies, events, sacrifices to be
lost in the midst of memory. We have to make sure that not only do we
understand them but that we understand their import and that we teach
our children that this is part of America's history and America is what
it is today because of the sacrifices of many great men and women,
these three included among them: Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the
commemoration of the 44th Anniversary of the death 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 would become known as Freedom Summer. I would like to
thank my fellow Judiciary member and the gentleman from Georgia,
Congressman John Lewis for introducing this legislation.
The right to vote has held a central place in the black freedom
struggle. After emancipation, African Americans sought the ballot as a
means to in American society. During the summer of 1964, thousands of
civil rights activists, many of them white college students from the
North, descended on Mississippi and other Southern states to try to end
the long-time political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the
region. Although blacks had won the right to vote in 1870, thanks to
the Fifteenth Amendment, for the next 100 years many were unable to
exercise that right. White local and state officials systematically
kept blacks from voting through formal methods, such as poll taxes and
literacy tests, and through cruder methods of fear and intimidation,
which included beatings and lynchings.
Freedom Summer marked the climax of intensive voter-registration
activities in the South that had started in 1961. Organizers chose to
focus their efforts on Mississippi because of the State's particularly
dismal voting-rights record: in 1962 only 6.7 percent of African
Americans in the State were registered to vote, the lowest percentage
in the country. The Freedom Summer campaign was organized by a
coalition called the Mississippi Council of Federated Organizations,
which was led by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and included
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Freedom Summer activists faced threats and harassment throughout the
campaign, not only from white supremacist groups, but from local
residents and police. Freedom School buildings and the volunteers'
homes were frequent targets; 37 black churches and 30 black homes and
businesses were firebombed or burned during that summer, and the cases
often went unsolved. More than 1000 black and white volunteers were
arrested, and at least 80 were beaten by white mobs or racist police
officers.
But the summer's most infamous act of violence was the murder of
three young civil rights workers--a black volunteer, James Chaney, and
his white coworkers, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. On June 21,
Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner set out to investigate a church bombing
near Philadelphia, Mississippi, but were arrested that afternoon and
held for several hours on alleged traffic violations. Their release
from jail was the last time they were seen alive before their badly
decomposed bodies were discovered under a nearby dam six weeks later.
Goodman and Schwerner had died from single gunshot wounds to the chest,
and Chaney from a savage beating. These savage attacks were perpetrated
by the Ku Klux Klan.
The FBI investigation that uncovered the deaths of these three brave
young men, white and black, also led to the discovery of the bodies of
several other African-Americans from Mississippi, whose disappearances
over the years had not attracted much attention.
On December 4, 1964, 21 White Mississippians from Philadelphia,
Mississippi, including the sheriff and his deputy, were arrested and
charged with conspiring to deprive Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and
Michael Schwerner of their civil rights, because murder was not a
Federal crime. Ironically, on the very same day, December 4, 1964, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Later, a District Court judge dismissed the charges against the 21
Whites. After three years, and an appeal to the Supreme Court, seven
individuals were found guilty, but 2 of the defendants, including Edgar
Ray Killen, who had been implicated by witnesses, were acquitted
because the jury was deadlocked on charges.
Over twenty years later, on June 21, 2005 after new evidence, a jury
convicted Edgar Ray Killen on 3 counts of manslaughter. These freedom
riders made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of all people, black
and white. It is fitting that we recognize them and pay tribute,
respect, and homage to them, and to the legacy that they have left
behind.
We commemorate and acknowledge the legacy of these brave Americans
who participated in the civil rights movement and the role they played
in changing the hearts and minds of Americans. We also celebrate these
Americans for their decision to create a political environment
necessary to pass legislation to expand civil rights and voting rights
for all Americans.
Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1293.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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