[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 102 (Monday, July 12, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S5748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 68--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

  Mr. SCHUMER submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs:

                            S. Con. Res. 68

       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 Senate (the House of Representatives 
     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.

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