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Jane's Uncle and his bride Katherine
A photo of Jane Stembridge’s uncle, Shep Sawyer, and his new wife, Katherine. Each brought their own maids to the marriage. Shep’s maid on the right is Eloise “Monk” Culbreath and Katherine’s maid on the left was called “Reathie.”
From the collection of Jane Stembridge
Burned out car belonging to missing civil rights workers.
A June 24, 1964, photo of the burned-out station wagon in which civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney had been riding before they were arrested on June 21. At the time the picture was taken, the men were missing and presumed dead.
Associated Press
Missing civil rights workers found.
The police move the body of one of the three murdered civil rights workers on August 5, 1964. The three men’s bodies had been found in a shallow grave earlier that day near Philadelphia, Mississippi. In response to the slayings, Stembridge penned an Open Letter to America, noting the steep price the movement had paid for the country’s attention.
Associated Press
Stembridge as a toddler.
Although she grew up mainly in South Carolina, Stembridge’s family frequently moved around during her early life. Here she is pictured as a toddler when she lived in Cedartown, Georgia.
From the collection of Jane Stembridge
An early photo of Stembridge
Stembridge became involved with the civil rights movement out of a sense of anger, repression, and injustice that she observed and experienced growing up in the South.
From the collection of Jane Stembridge
Most original.
Stembridge, surrounded by paintings in this photo from Meredith College’s yearbook, earned the superlative “most original.” As an artistic, creative, gay woman, Stembridge felt Meredith offered an accepting student environment where women could make decisions and be heard.
Meredith College
Stembridge's 1958 yearbook photo
This portrait of Stembridge appeared in Meredith College’s 1958 yearbook. Stembridge transferred to the small women’s college outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, from Baylor University in Texas.
Meredith College
Union Theological Seminary in New York
Without a clearly identified goal, Stembridge decided to attend Union Theological Seminary in New York after finishing at Meredith. The move was fortuitous. A speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in March 1960 compelled Stembridge to drop out and move south to Atlanta to join the student movement.
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A candid shot of Jane Stembridge taken by SNCC photographer Danny Lyon.
In April 1960, Stembridge became the first secretary for the new organization, working out of King’s SCLC office on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. In June, she and other volunteers published the first issue of SNCC’s newspaper, the Student Voice.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
SCLC chief of staff Ella Baker
Inspired by his words, Stembridge spoke to Martin Luther King Jr. after his March 1960 speech at Union Theological Seminary, offering to join the budding student movement. King put her in touch with SCLC chief of staff Ella Baker, pictured here, who organized the April 1960 meeting of student activist leaders in Raleigh, North Carolina, that resulted in the formation of SNCC. Stembridge remembers Baker as a strong and outspoken consensus builder.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
Robert "Bob" Moses
Stembridge first met Robert “Bob” Moses at SNCC’s shared office with SCLC on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta in 1960. The two bonded as the quiet, funny, committed Moses helped Stembridge publish the Student Voice and organize SNCC conferences before heading out on a dangerous mission to organize voter registration in Mississippi.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
CORE Poster
This August 1964 poster for a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) rally underscores the outrage following the slaying of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney by Klan members in Mississippi.
Danny Lyon/Magnum
State and federal agencies work jointly in an effort to find Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney.
Shortly after the men went missing, Stembridge and Danny Lyon attempted to find out any clues about what happened to the missing workers to pass on to SNCC and Attorney General Robert Kennedy by posing as a writer and photographer at the Neshoba County Fair. They were run off by authorities before they could find anything out.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
FBI dragging Pearl River
FBI agents called in to assist in the search for the bodies of the three missing civil rights workers drag the Pearl River near Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 27, 1964, six days after the men went missing.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
The buzzing SNCC office in Jackson, Mississippi
This photo is from August 1964, prior to the Atlantic City Democratic Convention. As one of the earliest members of SNCC, Stembridge participated in many of the student organization’s key events and helped drive change nationwide.
© 1976 Matt Herron/Take Stock