Today marks the anniversary of one of the most brutal chapters in the civil rights movement — the murders of Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. The three men were all involved in the Mississippi Freedom Summer, an aggressive campaign by activists to register eligible black voters in Mississippi in hopes of finally making their political power manifest. African Americans made up a majority of Mississippi residents in 1964, and yet thanks to decades of discrimination and racial violence,
I was born in 1955 and grew up in Jackson, MS. My mom was a staunch proponent of Civil Rights. My Engineer father hired a black draftsman in the early 1970s when no one hired black men for white collar jobs.
I want to write here about my experiences growing up - how completely weird it was, looking back on it. No time now - later today or tommorrow. BTW, I googled the names of some of those murderers, and found some good articles, including this from the Oxford American:
Thanks for the recap. John Doar’s amazing work doesn’t get enough credit with the general public.
I hope the book I'm writing on him changes that!
I look forward to it.
I was born in 1955 and grew up in Jackson, MS. My mom was a staunch proponent of Civil Rights. My Engineer father hired a black draftsman in the early 1970s when no one hired black men for white collar jobs.
I want to write here about my experiences growing up - how completely weird it was, looking back on it. No time now - later today or tommorrow. BTW, I googled the names of some of those murderers, and found some good articles, including this from the Oxford American:
https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-86-fall-2014/no-twang-of-conscience-whatever