Served as volunteer in media and police relations for COFO in Jackson in summer of 1964 while on leave without pay from Stanford University, where I directed the News Service.
Arrived in Jackson right after Schwerner, Cheney, and Goodman were reported missing, remained for several weeks. Set up incident reporting system with chronological summary.
Kept extensive news clippings, wrote a lengthy speech summarizing experiences, available on request in hard copy format.
On return to California, volunteered for NO on 14, a fair housing campaign. This led directly to my second marriage. Over the past 15 years, have helped my wife, Charlotte, produce a dozen documentaries on AIDS, homeless teenagers, community-based rehabilitation of people with disabilities, other medical problems.
Dennis Sweeney and Mary King lived at my home, decompressing after they left Mississippi. I had known Allard K. Lowenstein both through work for the U.S. National Student Association in the early 1950s and from his years as an assistant dean at Stanford.
In retrospect, the Freedom Summer proved the peak experience of my lifetime. Bob Moses was/is one of the greatest leaders I have ever known. As reflected in the books, Local People and This Little Light of Mine, all of us white folk owe an enormous debt to Mississippi black people who showed extraordinary courage in the pursuit of elementary justice, including the right to vote.
While the country has gone corporate to an incredible degree, the pendulum will swing back our way. The struggle for freedom is world-wide. It can never be fully won, but it remains an ideal worthy of perpetual pursuit
Thank you providing a place for all of us to share our experiences, past, present and future.
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