Sheila K. Michaels
1939-2017
Born and raised in St.. Louis, in 1959 Sheila moved to New York, where she went to work for the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1962, she worked with the organization in Mississippi, where she also became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Named a field secretary for SNCC the next year, she worked in Tennessee as an editor of The Knoxville Crusader, a civil-rights newspaper. Her co-editor was Marion S. Barry Jr., the future mayor of Washington. Sheila Michaels worked for SNCC 1962-1964 in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee, and in 1964 was the project manager for the Hattiesburg, MS Project.
Sheila Michaels died June 17, 2017 in Manhattan.
