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Creator
Goodman, Andrew, 1943-1964
Call number
Sc MIRS Goodman 2010
Physical description
10 audio_recordings. 25 video_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Andrew Goodman Memorial audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Andrew Goodman (November 23, 1943- June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist. The collection consists of ten audio and twenty-five moving image recordings related to the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, including commemorations, documentary films, news segments, and music.

Biographical/historical information

Andrew Goodman (November 23, 1943- June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist. Goodman, along with fellow activists James Chaney (May 30, 1943- June 21, 1964) and Michael Schwerner (November 6, 1939- June 21, 1964) were Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) workers. They volunteered for the Freedom Summer Campaign (also known as Mississippi Freedom Summer, Freedom Summer Project, or Mississippi Summer Project), which was launched in June 1964 to register Black Mississippi residents to vote, and to establish Freedom Schools for Black Southerners. On June 21, 1964, Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner were murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by local members of the Ku Klux Klan. They had travelled to Philadelphia, Mississippi to investigate the burning of Mount Zion United Methodist Church. Their disappearance and murder sparked national outrage and led to an FBI investigation, referred to as Mississippi Burning, which later became the title of a 1988 film loosely based on the events.

Outrage sparked by the young men's murders helped push legislators to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1966, Carolyn and Robert Goodman, Andrew's parents, founded the Andrew Goodman Foundation. Over the years the foundation coordinated a number of projects, in particular, the Chaney Goodman Schwerner Memorial Coalition of 1989. The coalition commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of Freedom Summer and the death of the three civil rights workers by sponsoring the South-North Freedom Caravan in June 1989. Hundreds of people travelled from Philadelphia, Mississippi, to Washington, DC, and New York City. This event led to support for additional legislation for voter registration.

The Andrew Goodman Foundation continues to work to support youth leadership development, voting accessibility, and social justice initiatives across the US.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of ten audio and twenty-five moving image recordings related to the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, including commemorations, documentary films, news segments, and music. Many of the audio items' original formats are cassettes, and contain two or more parts, one for each side of the cassette. Item titles are devised from the content of the recordings. Some items include recordings of multiple events and these events are described separately. Biographical information regarding participants is included in the items' descriptions. They reflect participants' role at the time of the event, unless otherwise stated. Square brackets indicate unclear names or spellings.

The Andrew Goodman Memorial audio and moving image collection is arranged in four series:

  • SERIES I: THE MURDERS OF GOODMAN, CHANEY, AND SCHWERNER
    1964 June 27

    The series includes one audio recording of a phone interview between Henry Wolff, an attorney for the Goodman family, and Robert McNamara, who had contacts in Mississippi. The recording was made six days after Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner's disappearance and explains how members of the Ku Klux Klan murdered the three young men. Information from the Andrew Goodman Foundation website pertaining to this conversation states McNamara was incorrectly identified as the secretary of defense.

  • SERIES II: FREEDOM CARAVAN
    circa 1989 June 20-24

    The series includes seven audio recordings from events related to the twenty-fifth anniversary of Freedom Summer and the murder of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, arranged chronologically. The Chaney Goodman Schwerner Memorial Coalition of 1989, with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, organized buses known as Freedom Caravan. The Freedom Caravan converged in Philadelphia, Mississippi, from different locations including a stop in Birmingham, Alabama, and travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, and New York City. Freedom Caravan commemorated the three young men's travel to Philadelphia, Mississippi, where they went to investigate the burning of Mount Zion United Methodist Church, the site of a CORE Freedom School. The Freedom Caravan buses left Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 21st and arrived in New York City on June 24th. There was a rally in New York City, as well as a memorial at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine that was attended by 10,000 people.

    The series includes memorial services held in different cities along the route, including many notable speakers and interviews and conversations amongst participants. Many of the items appear to be recorded by [Luella Wilkins], a participant in the Freedom Caravan. The irregular intervals of the recordings reflect her intermittent recording over the course of the caravan.

  • SERIES III: FREEDOM SUMMER 94
    1994 April 15-17

    This series includes eighteen video recordings of Freedom Summer 94, a three-day program for youth organizers commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Freedom Summer and the murders of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner. They are arranged chronologically and in sequence. The program took place in Ohio, where Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner met in 1964 and trained hundreds of Freedom Summer volunteers, mostly students, on how to navigate the racism and violence they would encounter in Mississippi. Freedom Summer 94's participants were twenty youth, mostly students, representing twenty youth organizations fighting social problems across the US. The program was likely sponsored by the Andrew Goodman Foundation and/or Carolyn Goodman, who appears repeatedly throughout the recordings.

  • SERIES IV: DOCUMENTARIES, NEWS, MUSIC, AND CAROLYN GOODMAN REMEMBRANCE
    1992-2008

    This series includes two audio recordings of music and seven video recordings including documentaries, news segments, and a remembrance ceremony for Carolyn Goodman. They are arranged chronologically. Four documentaries explore topics of activism and historical events. Two news segments discuss the story of Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs and the naming of a mountain in honor of Andrew Goodman.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of David Goodman, 2009-2010.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist. Finding aid published in 2025.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Andrew Goodman Memorial collection, Sc MG 825.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photograph.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Access restrictions

At the time of publishing, two audio items are not available pending digitization.