LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION recognizing that the Citizens Stamp Advisory
Committee is contemplating a recommendation to issue a commemorative
postage stamp honoring civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James
Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and the "Freedom Summer" of 1964

WHEREAS, Freedom Summer was a campaign in Mississippi to register Afri-
can-American voters during the summer of 1964; during that year, most
Black voters were disenfranchised by law or practice in Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, This voting rights initiative was led by the Student Nonvio-
lent 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); and
WHEREAS, Thousands of students and activists participated in two-week
orientation sessions in preparation for the voter registration drive in
Mississippi; and
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; and
WHEREAS, Three civil rights volunteers lost their lives in their
attempts to secure voting rights for Blacks; and
WHEREAS, Andrew Goodman was a white 20 year-old anthropology major
from Queens College who volunteered for the "Freedom Summer" project;
and
WHEREAS, James Chaney was a 21 year-old African-American from Meridi-
an, Mississippi, who became a civil rights activist, joining the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1963, to work on voter registra-
tion and education; and
WHEREAS, Michael "Mickey" Schwerner was a white 24 year-old from
Brooklyn, New York, who was a CORE field secretary in Mississippi and a
veteran of the civil rights movement; and
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; and
WHEREAS, The three civil rights workers were beaten, shot, and killed
by members of the Ku Klux Klan; and
WHEREAS, The national uproar in response to the deaths of these brave
men helped generate the public support necessary to bring about passage
of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body, representing the
people of the State of New York, to acknowledge the sacrifices made by
Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner; their 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, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
recognize that the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee is contemplating a
recommendation to issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring civil
rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, and
the "Freedom Summer" of 1964; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause further to recognize that
such a stamp should honor these three men 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 be it
further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the families of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael
Schwerner.