In June 1964, civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi while volunteering for the Freedom Summer Project. Goodman was then a student at Queens College, where Michael’s brother, Steve Schwerner, directed the counseling program.

Hortense Powdermaker, was a founding faculty member of Queens College in 1937 and established the anthropology and sociology departments. During her 30-year tenure, she conducted groundbreaking research and published several influential books. Originally built in 1962 as the Social Science Building (Academic I), the hall was renamed in her honor in 1977.