- Person
- Michael Schwerner
- Lived
- 1939–1964
- Field
- Civil rights
- From
- American
The story
Long before he became a civil rights worker, Michael Schwerner showed a habit of standing up for others. Born in 1939 and raised in New York City and then in Westchester County, he was remembered by friends and family as friendly, gentle, mischievous and "full of life and ideas", someone who believed all people were essentially good.
As a boy Schwerner befriended Robert Reich, who was several years younger. Reich had a genetic condition, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, that left him much shorter than other children, and it made him a target for bullies. He sought out the protection of older boys, and one of them was Schwerner, who helped keep him safe.
Reich went on to become a professor and author and served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, including as US Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997. He has cited Schwerner's protection as an inspiration to "fight the bullies, to protect the powerless, to make sure that the people without a voice have a voice."
The lesson took on deeper meaning for Reich because of what happened to his protector. In January 1964 Schwerner moved to Meridian, Mississippi, to work for the Congress of Racial Equality, building a community centre and helping Black citizens register to vote. In June 1964, aged 24, he was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan along with James Chaney and Andrew Goodman.
Schwerner's kindness to a smaller boy and his work in Mississippi came from the same instinct. In both cases he put himself between people with power and people without it, and he did so out of a simple belief that everyone deserved to be treated fairly. Bullying, and the duty to protect those who are targeted, is a central theme of Reich's 2025 memoir Coming Up Short.
Through Reich's long career in teaching, writing and government, focused on workers and inequality, the example Schwerner set as a teenager has reached audiences far beyond the neighbourhood where the two boys met.
Why it matters
Schwerner's kindness to a bullied child shaped the values of a future US Secretary of Labor, extending his influence long after his death.
About Michael Schwerner
New York social worker who organised Black voter registration in Mississippi for CORE and was murdered by the Klan with James Chaney and Andrew Goodman in 1964.
More about Michael Schwerner
- Michael Schwerner went to Mississippi for $9.80 a weekIn January 1964 Michael Schwerner became the first white civil rights worker based permanently outside Jackson, Mississippi, working for CORE in Meridian for $9.80 a week.
- Michael Schwerner helped integrate Gwynn Oak ParkIn 1963 Michael Schwerner took part in the campaign to desegregate Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland, which had kept a whites-only admissions policy for decades.
- Michael Schwerner opened his fraternity to a Black studentAs a student at Cornell, Michael Schwerner campaigned successfully for his fraternity to accept a Black student as a pledge, an early sign of his commitment to equality.
- Michael Schwerner's boycott won a store's first Black hireIn Meridian, Michael Schwerner organised a boycott of a variety store that sold mostly to Black customers until it hired its first African American employee.
- Michael Schwerner planned a Freedom School at Mount ZionOn Memorial Day 1964 Michael Schwerner and James Chaney asked Mount Zion church in Longdale, Mississippi, to host a Freedom School and urged its members to register to vote.
- Michael Schwerner helped win the Voting Rights ActNational outrage at the 1964 killing of Michael Schwerner and fellow activists James Chaney and Andrew Goodman helped Congress pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Michael Schwerner built a community centre in MeridianMichael and Rita Schwerner took over CORE's Meridian field office in 1964 and set up a community centre for Black residents as a base for grassroots organising.
- Michael Schwerner worked with youth on the Lower East SideMichael Schwerner left graduate school to work as a social worker in a Lower East Side housing project, where he was known for his special rapport with teenagers.
Sources
- Michael Schwerner Wikipedia
- Robert Reich Wikipedia
- Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.