Freedom Summer 60th Anniversary Commemoration

David Goodman has been influential in the establishment and advancement of the Andrew Goodman Foundation, a not-for-profit organization created by David and Andrew’s parents that supports youth leadership development, voting accessibility, and social justice initiatives on campuses across the country. Along with his wife, Sylvia, they created the Andrew Goodman Ambassador program. The ambassadors work to register voters, bring down voting barriers, and tackle social justice issues on their respective college campuses. Queens College is one of 69 colleges in the nation sponsoring Andrew Goodman ambassadors. 

Stephen A. Schwerner joined the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) with his brother during the civil rights movement. CORE pioneered the use of nonviolent direct action in America’s civil rights struggle. He has marched against segregation and protested the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, was a draft counselor during the Vietnam war, taught classes on the civil rights movement, and helped start the Park Slope Food Co-op. He worked at Queens College from 1963 until 1976, starting out as an intern and ultimately becoming the director of Counseling Services and chair of the Academic Senate. In 1976, he moved to Ohio where he was the dean of students at Antioch College. He later became a professor at the college, teaching a range of courses in education, psychology, the civil rights movement, and the history of modern jazz.

There will be a special performance of The Invaders: A Freedom Summer Play, presented by the Andrew Goodman Foundation, Kupferberg Center for the Arts, and Queens College. Written by Ralph Carhart and directed by Renée Flemings, this play commemorates the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer. The Invaders takes us from the brilliantly lit theatres of a college campus in New York City, to the dark hidden roads of a bloody Mississippi midnight. It is a story of yesterday, with echoes that reverberate around us 60 years later.