Michael Schwerner

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Michael "Mickey" Schwerner
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 21, 1964(1964-06-21) (aged 24)
Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S.
Cause of deathMurder
Other namesMickey Schwerner
Spouse
​
(m. 1962)​
AwardsPresidential Medal of Freedom
(Posthumous; 2014)

Michael Henry Schwerner (November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964) was an American

African Americans
, most of whom had been disenfranchised in the state since 1890.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Social Work at Columbia University
.

As a boy, Schwerner befriended Robert Reich, who later became U.S. Secretary of Labor. Schwerner helped protect Reich, who was smaller, from bullies.[4] [5]

Civil rights activism

In the early 1960s Schwerner became active in working for civil rights for African Americans; he led a local

Dave Dennis, the CORE state director. Bob Moses assigned the Schwerners to organize the community center and activities in Meridian. James Chaney was a local youth who started working with them there. The Schwerners were the first whites to be assigned by CORE permanently outside the state capital of Jackson
. In the summer of 1964 CORE intended to hold classes and drives to register African Americans to vote in the state, what they called "Freedom Summer". Many volunteers, mostly college students and young adults, had been recruited from local communities and northern/western states to work on this project.

Civil rights activists were resented and held under suspicion by white Mississippians. Spies paid by the

Lawrence Rainey, who was implicated in the murders.[7]

The

African American
, under the principle of "don't shop where you can't work".

Murder

Main article: Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
FBI in 1964, shows the photographs of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney
, and Michael Schwerner.

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were investigating the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, which had been a site of a CORE Freedom School, in a nearby community. Parishioners had been beaten in the wake of Schwerner and Chaney's voter registration rallies for CORE. The Sheriff's Deputy, Cecil Price, had been accused by parishioners of stopping their caravan and forcing the deacons to kneel in the headlights of their own cars, while they were beaten with rifle butts. That same group of white men was identified as having burned the church.

Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price arrested Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner for an alleged traffic violation and took them to the jail in

Neshoba County. They were released that evening, without being allowed to telephone anyone. On the way back to Meridian, they were stopped by patrol lights and two carloads with members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan on Highway 19, then taken in Price's car to another remote rural road. One of the Klansmen, Alton Wayne Roberts, reportedly pulled Schwerner out of the car, pointed a gun at his chest, and asked "Are you that nigger
lover?". Schwerner replied "Sir, I know just how you feel," before Roberts shot him in the heart. Goodman was killed by Roberts in the same manner, while Chaney was killed by either Roberts or James Jordan, after beating, chain-whipping and castrating him.

The men's bodies remained undiscovered for 44 days. In the meantime, the case of the missing civil-rights workers became a major national story, especially coming on top of other events during Freedom Summer. The federal government quickly assigned the FBI to a full investigation and called in Navy sailors and other forces to aid in the search.

Schwerner's widow Rita, who also worked for CORE in Meridian, expressed indignation publicly at the way the story was handled. She said she believed that if only Chaney (who was black) was missing and the two white men from New York had not been killed along with him, the case would not have received nearly as much national attention, as other black civil rights workers had earlier been killed in the South.[8]

First trial

The US government prosecuted the case under the

jury deadlock
.

Reinvestigation

James Earl Chaney, and Michael Schwerner at Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Mississippi
.

Journalist

Jackson Clarion-Ledger had written extensively about the case for many years in the late 20th century. Mitchell had earned renown for helping secure convictions by his investigation of several other high-profile Civil Rights Era murder cases, including the assassination of Medgar Evers in Mississippi, the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, and the murder of Vernon Dahmer in his Mississippi home, the latter of which was ordered by Samuel Bowers, founder of the Klan chapter that killed the CORE activists. Mitchell developed new evidence, found new witnesses, and pressured the state to take action. Barry Bradford, an Illinois high school teacher, and three students: Allison Nichols, Sarah Siegel, and Brittany Saltiel, joined Mitchell's efforts. Their documentary, produced for the National History Day contest, presented important new evidence and compelling reasons for reopening the case. Bradford also obtained an interview with Edgar Ray Killen, which helped convince the State to reinvestigate. Mitchell was able to determine the identity of "Mr. X",[9] the mystery informer who had helped the FBI discover the bodies and smash the conspiracy of the Klan
in 1964. He relied in part on evidence developed by Bradford.

On January 7, 2005,

white supremacist nicknamed "Preacher," pleaded "Not Guilty" to state charges of the murders of the three men. The jury found him guilty of three counts of manslaughter
on June 21, 2005. He was the only man charged with homicide in connection to the killings. Killen was sentenced to sixty years in prison—twenty years for each count, served consecutively.

Personality

Schwerner "was described by family and friends as friendly, good-natured, gentle, mischievous, and 'full of life and ideas'. He believed all people were essentially good. He loved sports, animals, poker,

W.C. Fields, and rock music."[10]

Robert Reich, the American political commentator, professor, and author who served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, says that as a child, he was bullied, and sought out the protection of older boys; one of them was Michael Schwerner. Reich cites this event as an inspiration to "fight the bullies, to protect the powerless, to make sure that the people without a voice have a voice."[11]

Legacy and honors

Main article: Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner § Legacy and honors
State of Mississippi roadside marker denoting the location where the 1964 murders of American civil rights workers Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner took place

Schwerner

In popular culture

Main article: Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner § Cultural references

See also

  • Civil Rights Movement

References

  1. ^ "1964: Three civil rights activists found dead". BBC News. August 4, 1964. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Activist Michael Schwerner, PMHS grad murdered by Klan in '64, memorialized with plaque near street named for him". Pelham Examiner. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  3. ^ "The Cornell Daily Sun 23 September 1964". cdsun.library.cornell.edu.
  4. ^ Patrick Gavin (July 30, 2012). "Answer This: Robert Reich". Politico. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  5. ^ Robert Reich (September 26, 2023). "When the Klan murdered my protector". Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  6. ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (July 23, 2020). "The Blessing and Burden of Being John Lewis". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  7. ^ AP (March 18, 1998). "Mississippi Commission's Files a Treasure Trove of Innuendo". MDCBowen.org. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  8. ^ Neshoba (2008) documentary film
  9. ^ "Mississippi Burning FAQs - Speaking For A Change". May 31, 2012.
  10. ^ "Biography of Michael Schwerner". University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
  11. ^ Robert Reich (November 18, 2011). "Transcript: Robert Reich’s speech at Occupy Cal". The Daily Californian. Retrieved September 11, 2013. http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/18/transcript-robert-reichs-speech-at/
  12. ^ "Section of Harmon Avenue Dedicated as "Michael Schwerner Way"". The Pelhams-PLUS. June 13, 2008. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  13. National Archives
    .

External links

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