Carolyn Goodman

Carolyn Elizabeth Goodman (née Drucker; October 6, 1915 – August 17, 2007) was an American clinical psychologist who became a prominent civil rights advocate after her son, Andrew Goodman and two other civil rights workers, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in 1964.

Politically active until age 90, Goodman came to wide public attention again in 2005. Traveling to Philadelphia, Mississippi, she testified at the murder trial of Edgar Ray Killen, a former Klan leader recently indicted in the case. She completed a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1968. Her dissertation was titled A study of psychological factors in different fertility and family planning types. Arleen Otto was her doctoral advisor and Morton Deutsch served on her dissertation committee.

Career She focused on early intervention for those at risk of psychiatric problems; she ran the PACE Family Treatment Center in the Bronx. they never returned. Their bodies were found almost two months later.

In 1967, a federal jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven Klansmen of conspiracy in the deaths of the three civil rights workers. None served more than six years.

In January 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, who in 1967 had been released due to a hung jury, was arrested and charged with murder by the State of Mississippi; he was convicted of manslaughter and died in prison. At his trial, Goodman read a postcard her son wrote on June 21, 1964, the last day of his life "Dear Mom and Dad," it read, "I have arrived safely in Meridian, Miss. This is a wonderful town, and the weather is fine. I wish you were here. The people in this city are wonderful, and our reception was very good. All my love, Andy." After Carolyn's death in August 2007, David Goodman, Andrew's younger brother, and Sylvia Golbin Goodman, David's wife, took up the work of the Foundation. In 2025, both are on the Board of Directors, which is chaired by Sonia Jarvis.

On the 50th anniversary of Andrew's death, the foundation officially launched Vote Everywhere, which is a national, non-partisan, civic engagement movement of student leaders and university partners. The program is crafted to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Goodman with its mission rooted in tackling impediments to voter registration and other social justice issues on college campuses.

Personal life She married Robert W. Goodman, a civil engineer, in the late 1930s, and they had three sons, Jonathan, David and Andrew.

She married Joseph Eisner in 1972; he died in 1992.

Selected works

My Mantelpiece: A Memoir of Survival and Social Justice by Carolyn Goodman (with Brad Herzog), Why Not Books.