MS
Civil Rights & Human Rights

Michael Schwerner

Who

Michael Schwerner · Civil Rights & Human Rights

What

CORE field worker murdered by the Klan alongside James Chaney and Andrew Goodman during Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964.

When

1939, Pelham, New York, USA — 1964, Neshoba County, Mississippi, USA

Where

New York City; Meridian, Mississippi

Biography

Michael Schwerner is recognized among Jewish contributors to Civil Rights & Human Rights — CORE field worker murdered by the Klan alongside James Chaney and Andrew Goodman during Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964.

How & why

Michael 'Mickey' Schwerner, born to a Jewish family in New York, was a CORE field worker who went to Mississippi in 1964 to register Black voters during Freedom Summer. He was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan alongside James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, a killing that shocked the nation and helped spur passage of civil-rights and voting-rights legislation. The three were posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Wikipedia (Mississippi civil rights workers' murders); My Jewish Learning

Contributions & Sources

CORE field worker murdered by the Klan alongside James Chaney and Andrew Goodman during Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964.

1939

Source: Wikipedia (Mississippi civil rights workers' murders); My Jewish Learning