Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Wednesday that named a bridge connecting Pelham and Mount Vernon after civil rights leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and and murdered Pelham activist Michael Schwerner. Previously known as the Third Street Bridge, the crossing was officially renamed the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – Michael Henry Schwerner Memorial Bridge.

“Civil rights icons Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Michael Henry Schwerner gave much to the cause of justice in America, and it’s appropriate that we honor their memory here in New York,” Cuomo said. “Thanks to this legislation, the new name of this bridge will remind residents of Westchester and travelers across the state of the contributions of these two activists.”

Michael Schwerner lived and graduated high school in Pelham before becoming a civil rights activist in Manhattan and eventually Mississippi. He was murdered with two other Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) members by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964.