Michael Schwerner
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Michael Schwerner (1939 - June 21, 1964), called Mickey by friends and colleagues, was a CORE field worker kidnapped and killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to the civil-rights work he coordinated, which included promoting registration to vote among Mississippi African Americans.
Two CORE volunteers with him at the time of his kidnapping, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, were also killed. The film Mississippi Burning is loosely based on the murders and ensuing FBI investigation.
On January 7, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, once an outspoken white supremacist nicknamed the "Preacher," pleaded "Not Guilty" to Schwerner's murder, but was found guilty of manslaughter on June 21, 2005.
See also: Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders
External link
- Biography of Michael Schwerner (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Schwerner.htm) from University of Missouri - Kansas City Law School