This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of a tragic and historic turning point in the fight for civil rights. The night of June 21, 1964, three young civil rights workers were shot and killed near the community of Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were there organizing and working to register African-Americans to vote during 10 violent and controversial weeks remembered as the “Freedom Summer.”
Tomorrow night, WKAR-TV looks back a half-century with a public preview of part of our upcoming ‘American Experience’ special, also called "Freedom Summer." It will include a panel discussion with four special Michigan guests who were active in the civil rights movement: Willard Walker, Rev. John Baumgartner, Milton Powell and Judy Karandjeff.
The panel moderator will be former state representative and gubernatorial candidate Lynn Jondahl of Okemos who participated in 1965’s ‘Selma to Montgomery’ march.Current State speaks with Jondahl about the national atmosphere in 1964 regarding civil rights for African-Americans.