On Sun, May 18, 10 AM, Mr. Sherwin Markman will deliver a sermon entitled “Tragedy and Triumph: The Summer of 1964, a Fifty Year Remembrance” to the Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River, 914 Gateway Dr., Chestertown.
Sherwin Markman, as an Assistant to the President under President Lyndon Johnson, was present when Civil Rights history was being made a half century ago. We welcome him to our pulpit to speak on the summer of 1964, “in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the great sacrifices that were made, and the greater gifts that were bestowed upon us in the cause of civil rights.”
It was a summer of incredible happenings, beginning with the Mississippi Summer Project where, facing implacable white opposition and violence, a campaign was mounted to register African-Americans, a campaign that led to murders, burnings, beatings and appalling misery. Simultaneously, in Washington, D.C., Lyndon Johnson was leading the Congress into enacting the first major civil rights law since the Civil War; the law that desegregated pubic facilities throughout America. Finally, that summer ended with the Mississippi Project’s attempt to unseat the lily white delegation at the Democratic National Convention, a struggle that resulted in the Party’s outlawing all future segregated delegations, a struggle in which Sherwin played a significant part on behalf of the President.
On April 10, 2014 Sherwin was invited to attend the Civil Rights Summit to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, hosted by the LBJ Presidential Library. In attendance were Presidents Obama, G.W. Bush, Clinton and Carter. Sherwin’s talk to us will also include the deep impact this Summit had upon him. Join us in hearing this firsthand account of history.
Religious education for youngsters, as well as infant and toddler care, will be provided during our service. All are welcome. Please call for more information at 410-778-3440 or email [email protected].
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.