[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13342-13346]
[From the U.S. 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 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;

[[Page 13343]]

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 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.

[[Page 13344]]

  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. 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.
  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

[[Page 13345]]

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 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

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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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