The Riverdale Jewish Community Council launched The Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner Voter Registration & Pledge Drive to commemorate the heroic efforts of these three civil rights activists on the 40th anniversary of their murders in Mississippi.

The Council is in the process of building a broad coalition of local synagogues, churches, and community organizations to register voters in the Bronx for the upcoming 2004 election.

Background

In 1964, Black citizens of Mississippi were not permitted to vote unless they could afford to pay an exorbitant poll tax and pass a test that would daunt a constitutional lawyer. Even then, it was dangerous for a Black person to enter a polling place because of harassment and threats of violence.

Mississippi Freedom Summer, an effort that brought hundreds of college-age volunteers to register voters in "the most totalitarian state in the country" was announced in April, 1964.

On June 21, 1964, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, three Freedom Summer volunteers - James Chaney (black),Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner (both white) - were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan.

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The Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner Voter Registration & Pledge Drive is an project sponsored by the Riverdale Jewish Community Council. The Council is a 501(c)(3) organization that does not oppose, support, or otherwise endorse any candidate for public office. For more information, please contact the Council at 718-548-8200 ext. 216 or visit us on the web at www.ShalomRiverdale.org.