Plaque dedicated to civil rights leader Michael Schwerner in Pelham

A plaque on Michael Schwerner Way was dedicated to Michael Schwerner Monday, with a timeline of important events from his life.

News 12 Staff

Jun 22, 2021, 12:22 AM

Updated 1,206 days ago

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Pelham is honoring one of its own - a civil rights leader who was killed 57 years ago.
A plaque on Michael Schwerner Way was dedicated to Michael Schwerner Monday, with a timeline of important events from his life.
Schwerner was killed by the KKK in Mississippi in 1964 as he was trying to get African Americans registered to vote.
He was a known Freedom Rider, and for his activism, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2014.
Behind the idea for the plaque dedication were two high schoolers, Jamie Burke and Nevan Malwana.
They realized Schwerner went to the same school as them and walked the same streets.
The students hope that as people walk by the plaque, they'll remember there's a Mickey Schwerner, an activist in all of us.