By Charissa Howard
Trigger warning: This post has mentions of racially-motivated violence and death.
It was June 21, 1964 and James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner were setting out for Philadelphia, Mississippi as detectives. The group epitomized the vision of Freedom Summer organizers. One Black and two White; one local and two Northerners; two Congress of Racial Equality (or CORE) staffers and one college student. All brought together by their commitment to Civil and voting rights for Black Mississippians.
On this mid-June day, the three were looking to investigate Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which members of the KKK had burnt down. The church was Freedom Summer’s headquarters in that county. Before burning down the church, Klan members severely beat its meeting attendees. Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner went to look at the remains of the church, to see if anything could be salvaged.
On the way home, their car was pulled over for speeding. The three men were arrested and held for 6 hours in jail. CORE staff, beginning to worry about their workers, called jails in the area surrounding Mt. Zion Baptist. They called the Philadelphia jail, with no response. The men were eventually released and told to leave the county.
They were never seen alive again.
Two days later, the men’s vehicle was found empty and smoldering. Finally, on August 4, 1964, FBI investigators found the bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner hidden in an earth dam. They had been murdered by the KKK.
Fifty years later, there are still people – albeit perhaps less dangerous – who work against efforts to get out the vote and threaten violence against these efforts. In a recent radio episode taping with VoteThatJawn, City Commissioner Omar Sabir spoke about receiving death threats for his efforts to organize voting in the city of Philadelphia. This information should not scare us but, rather,make us even more passionate about getting out the vote.
The fact of the matter is that those who work to suppress the vote are threatened by young people who work to extend the ballot to all. Yet, young people have the potential to be the most powerful force of all. So, honoring the legacies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, let’s work to keep getting everyone to the polls.
Charissa Howard is a student at the University of Pennsylvania studying English and Political Science. She hails from the Philly suburbs and enjoys singing with The Inspiration, her Black a cappella group.
ABOUT Committee of Seventy
The Committee of Seventy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has promoted, supported, and facilitated government ethics and election integrity for more than a century. We believe that elections should be more free, more fair, more safe and more secure. We want every eligible voter to vote, to be informed when they vote, and to vote with confidence.
For more information, visit www.seventy.org
ABOUT Vote That Jawn
Using the power of youth voice and connection, #VoteThatJawn aims to bring 18-year-olds and other first-time voters to the polls—beginning a process toward full civic engagement—not just for a charismatic candidate, but to advocate for youth safety, agency, and inclusion.
For more information, visit www.votethatjawn.com
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