Mississippi
Voting activist killed during Freedom Summer in Mississippi believed country should be integrated
NEW YORK — Stephen Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is that as soon as the family heard the news, they were certain of the young men’s fate.
“We were sure they were killed,” he said. “There was little doubt about that. There was no reason for them to be missing in Mississippi.”
It was the summer of 1964, an era marked by murders, beatings, disappearances and church bombings amid the struggle for civil rights and the fight against segregation. Just a year before, a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young Black girls.
The disappearance of the three men, who had been part of a drive to register Black voters in Mississippi during what was called Freedom Summer, and the discovery of their bodies weeks later was an inflection point that shocked the national conscience.
“The most important thing to say about the whole incident is if Mickey and Andy Goodman were Black, there never would have been national news,” said Schwerner. “But because they were both white, that’s what made it news. That’s a terribly sad commentary on America, but that’s the truth.”
Stephen Schwerner, two-and-half years older than his brother, said their parents instilled in them a deep belief in human rights and social justice. His mother wanted to be a doctor but found that being poor, Jewish and a woman was too much to overcome. She became a biology teacher instead. His father was a lawyer and civil liberties activist, often representing the downtrodden.
When they were young, their father took them to see the baseball Yankees — and also the stars playing in the Negro Leagues. They often accompanied their parents to see folk singers such as Pete Seeger and the Black civil rights activist Josh White.
In this image provided by the FBI civil rights workers, from left, Michael Schwerner, 24, of New York, James Cheney, 21, from Mississippi, and Andrew Goodman, 20, of New York, who disappeared near Philadelphia, Miss., June 21, 1964. Stephen Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is that as soon as the family heard the news, they were certain of their fate: “We were sure they were killed,” he says. It was the summer of 1964, an era marked by murders, beatings, disappearances and church bombings amid the struggle for voting rights and the fight against segregation. Credit: AP
“We learned at an early age people were equal and that segregation was wrong.” Schwerner said.
Stephen Schwerner went to Antioch College in Ohio, where he joined the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union and helped stage sit-ins. He would later join the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) along with his wife, brother and sister-in-law.
While he remained in the north, his brother was drawn to the South and specifically to Mississippi. There, he met James “Jim” Chaney, who was a Black volunteer and helped set up a headquarters. Goodman would come later as one of the volunteers for Freedom Summer.
The brothers had similar beliefs, that the nation should be integrated and that people should be able to vote and have more control over their lives.
Civil rights activist Stephen Schwerner poses for a picture at his apartment in New York on May 9, 2023. Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is “We were sure they were killed.” It was the summer of 1964, an era marked by murders, beatings, disappearances and church bombings amid the struggle for voting rights and the fight against segregation. Credit: AP/Andres Kudacki
“Except he was braver than I was,” Schwerner said. “I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to go to Mississippi.”
His brother organized and his sister-in-law, Rita, ran a freedom school, Schwerner said. The head of the KKK gave the Meridian, Mississippi, chapter permission to kill Mickey as a race traitor. Schwerner doesn’t remember the last conversation he had with his brother, but he believes he knew he was in mortal danger.
Michael Schwerner and the other two men disappeared after looking into an arson at a Black church. A massive FBI search located their vehicle days afterward and their bodies later that summer, with the help of an informant.
During the search, authorities found several other bodies, primarily Black activists.
At the memorial for his brother, civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael told Stephen Schwerner it was the 17th funeral he had attended of people involved in the struggle.
“It was easy to get murdered in Mississippi,” Schwerner said.
The following year, he was in Brooklyn when the Voting Rights Act passed and was signed into law.
“People had worked toward it for years and dozens had died,” he said. “It was incredibly important.”
Now 86, and moving with the help of a walker, he recalls as a low point the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision a decade ago, which stopped requiring states with a history of voter suppression from being checked by the Justice Department before imposing potentially discriminatory voting laws.
The court’s ruling, striking down as unconstitutiona l the way states were included on the list of those needing to get advance approval for voting-related changes, was based on a conclusion that labeling states as discriminators based on information half a century old was not supported: “Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion for the court.
The justices are now considering whether to uphold or weaken another of the law’s provisions.
“In many ways, the story — the struggle for human rights in the United States — is two steps forward and then one back, and maybe three steps backward,” Schwerner said.
Still, he points to progress since the often violent struggle for civil rights six decades ago — including the end of legal segregation, Barack Obama’s presidency and the election of people of color to political offices, including state legislatures in the South.
He is proud that he still receives letters from students who took the civil rights class he taught at Antioch College, and to see the questions they raise about equality.
“This is how it’s supposed to be — that reading of the Declaration of Independence knowing full well it didn’t apply to most people because when it said all men are created equal, it really meant landowning white men,” Schwerner said. “But it did say all men and it meant all humans. So, we have got to keep striving to that.”
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Mississippi Valley State University’s band is set to perform at the 60th Presidential Inauguration Parade.
President-elect Donald Trump invited Valley’s “Mean Green Marching Machine” to perform at the event in Washington, D.C. on January 20.
The band has played on several stages, including NBA games, the Rose Bowl Parade, New Orleans Mardi Gras parades, and the National Showband Battle of the Bands.
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JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Miss Mississippi Becky Williams and Miss Mississippi’s Teen Brooke Bumgarner will head to Orlando, Florida Friday for the Miss America competition.
The national competition begins December 31st and Bumgarner hopes to make history by becoming the first national winner for this state in the teen competition. Williams hopes she will be the candidate to win Miss America since the last state winner in 1986 when Susan Aikin won the Miss America Crown.
On New Year’s Eve, the Miss America contestants, including Miss Mississippi Becky Williams will arrive in Orlando. Miss America 2025 will be crowned January 5th. There have been four winners from this state including, Mary Ann Mobley, Lynda Lee Meade, Cheryl Prewitt, and Miss America 1986 Susan Aiken.
Williams said, “The Miss Mississippi Corporation has changed my life. My experience in competing just these three years has been life-changing. I’m not the same person I was when I started and to even have the opportunity to compete at Miss Mississippi is one thing. To win is another and on top of that, I get to represent my entire state. I get to represent the volunteers of Miss Mississippi. I get to represent the state of Mississippi.”
Williams has been preparing for the national competition since she was crowned in June. She has also kept busy promoting her Community Service Initiative Make a Move.
“Preparing for Miss America has been a little different than getting ready for Miss Mississippi because now I am Miss Mississippi and it’s a full-time job. I’m on the road, I’m all across the state throughout my entire year, so these past six months I’ve been every which way but still fitting in time in dance studios across the state. I’m so thankful to my dance families in Meridian, in Hattiesburg, and in Jackson for giving me the space to practice, so that’s been really helpful but you know when it comes to interview prep, when it comes to doing the job of Miss America, I’m getting ready every single day because that’s what I do right now as Miss Mississippi”, said Williams.
The first night of the preliminary competition for Miss America’s Teen is New Year’s Eve. Brooke Bumgarner of Madison has been preparing and is hoping to make history as the first winner for Mississippi.
Bumgarner said, “She will win a $50,000 dollar scholarship which is an incredible blessing and she also wins a year-long of experiences that not everybody gets to take on and that’s such a rare opportunity and it’s been such an honor to watch the new leadership at Miss America really take our program to the next level and allow Miss America’s Teen to go through so many incredible life-changing experiences.”
Preliminary competition for Miss America begins New Year’s Night. The teen winner will be crowned January 4th.
“Only 51 girls a year are going to be able to go to the national pageant and that’s, it’s incredible to think that I am one of those 51 and I have the opportunity to make friends with people from all across the nation”, said Bumgarner.
The New Miss America will be crowned Sunday, January 5th.
Williams said, “You know it’s so humbling to be able to say that I’m the face of Mississippi when it comes to this competition so I get the chance to show everyone what we have to offer.”
The new Miss America will be awarded 60 thousand dollars in scholarships. This will be the 103rd Anniversary for Miss America which is the world’s largest scholarship program for women.
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Mississippi
Natchez man dies after jumping off overpass in Vicksburg – Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper
Natchez man dies after jumping off overpass in Vicksburg
Published 5:05 pm Thursday, December 26, 2024
NATCHEZ — A Natchez man Thursday morning jumped to his death from an overpass in Vicksburg, said Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten.
Patten said the Warren County Sheriff’s Office notified him of the incident this morning.
Gary Wills
“I received a phone call this morning from Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace about the incident that occurred in Vicksburg,” Patten said. “After Sheriff Pace described the incident that took place, we immediately sent deputies out to do a welfare check that turned into a death notification.”
The man, identified by Patten as Gary Wills, 57, had been missing from his family since Wednesday.
“This is not the kind of news you want to deliver to any family, but it has to be done out of necessity, and our hearts go out to his daughter and family,” he said.
Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said his office received a call at about 10 a.m. Thursday.
“We responded to do a welfare check on a white male pacing back and forth on the overpass that crosses over U.S. Highway 61,” Pace said, referring to the Culkin Road overpass “As deputies approached the individual to ask if he was OK, he jumped off the bridge, landing on U.S. 61 below.
“Deputies were able to get to him immediately, and an ambulance arrived within minutes. He was transported to Merit Health River Region Hospital, where he died a short time later,” Pace said.
He said a vehicle was found parked nearby.
“The registration of that vehicle led us to Natchez. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office was able to locate the family and positively identify the victim for us. He had no identification on his person,” Pace said.
Wills was the owner of Creative Exteriors in Natchez.
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