Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders
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The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders were the 1964 slayings of three political activists during the Civil Rights Movement. James Chaney, a 21 year old black male from Meridian, Mississippi, Andrew Goodman, a 20 year old anthropology student from New York, and Michael Schwerner, a 24 year old social worker also from New York, were the victims of the political assassinations. The lynchings of the three men occurred in Philadelphia, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964, following a campaign by the men to register blacks to vote. Local racists threatened the men to leave by sundown or they would be shot. Although the men clearly intended to leave in peace, they were still pursued by local police officers and townspeople. The men were hunted down by the sheriff of Neshoba County, Cecil Price, along with several members of the Ku Klux Klan. After cars surrounded the men, they were assaulted and murdered. After being missing for 44 days, the bodies, along with the charred remains of the car they had been driving which was abandoned on a Choctaw Indian reservation, were found. Eighteen men were put to trial in 1967, most of whom were set free later (see U.S. vs. Cecil Price et. al.).
In 1964, author William Bradford Huie published a book Three Lives For Mississippi that told the story.
The importance of the murders was magnified twice recently. First, the filming of the 1988 film Mississippi Burning shed light on the historical significance of the trial. Edgar Ray Killen, considered to be one of the leading assailants in the murders, was arrested for three counts of murder on January 6, 2005. Harlan Majure, former mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi, provided an alibi for Killen during the trial and asserted that the Ku Klux Klan was a "peaceful organization." Killen was convicted of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, after the jury opted for manslaughter instead of murder.
External links
White Supremacist opinions:
- From Southern to American Manifesto (http://www.nationalist.org/docs/ideology/2005/manifesto.html)
- Interview with Nationalist.org (http://www.nationalist.org/docs/ideology/killen.html)
