The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, is observing the traditional “shiva” — the Jewish seven-day mourning period–with the family of Nan Freeman, an 18-year-old sociology major who was killed last Tuesday by a hit-and-run driver in Belle Glade, Fla. Miss Freeman, who was attending New College in Sarasota, Fla., had joined the farm workers organizing drive in the sugar cane fields and was picketing the Talisman Sugar Co. in Belle Glade when she was fatally injured by what witnesses claim was a company truck.
Caesar Chavez, head of the union, composed mainly of Mexican-American farm workers, announced that it would observe the Jewish mourning period. Funeral services for the girl were held here last Thursday.
Friends of the victim’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Milton Freeman, indicated that the family would press for an investigation of the incident after the mourning period. According to the friends, Capt. Claude Tidnall of the Sheriff’s Department in Belle Glade has filed no charges against the truck driver whose vehicle struck Miss Freeman and a classmate of hers also on the picket line. The other girl was injured but recovered.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
