Explorations in Black Leadership

Co-Directed by Phyllis Leffler & Julian Bond

Bender, Rita (Schwerner)

Bender is an attorney who focuses her interests on family law, assisted reproduction, and mental health issues. Bender’s first husband, Michael Schwerner, was one of three civil rights workers killed by a Klansman in 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Ray Killen was finally convicted of manslaughter in 2005.