Long fight for justice in the race hate murders that shocked America
It was a race hate murder at a time and in a place where they were all too common. But it was ultimately to be a major factor in the United States passing its landmark Civil Rights Act.
Three civil rights activists – James Chaney, who was 21 years old and from Meridian, Mississippi, along with Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, both from New York City, – travelled to Neshoba County, Mississippi in June 1964 to attempt to register black people living there to vote.
Since 1890 and through the turn of the century, southern states had systematically disenfranchised most black voters by discrimination in voter registration and voting.
The three men had travelled from Meridian to the community of Longdale to talk with congregation members at a black church that had been burned, but were arrested following a traffic stop for speeding outside Philadelphia, Mississippi.
After being released, they were followed by local law enforcement officers and members of the Ku Klux Klan, and stopped again just before leaving Neshoba County. They were then abducted, taken to a nearby earthen dam where they were shot and buried.
The case was originally treated as a missing persons investigation but the men’s burnt-out car was then discovered, prompting a large-scale search by the FBI, local and state police and 400 US Navy servicemen.
The three men’s bodies were not discovered until two months later, when the team received a tip.
During the investigation it emerged that members of the local White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office, and the Philadelphia Police Department were involved in the incident. The murders prompted national outrage.
In 1967, after state officials refused to prosecute, the US Government charged 18 people with civil rights offences. Seven – including the deputy sheriff – were convicted but received only minor sentences for their actions.
The murders and subsequent FBI investigation became the inspiration for the 1988 film Mississippi Burning.
It was not until 2005 that one man, Baptist preacher and Ku Klux Klan organiser Edgar Ray Killen, was charged by the state of Mississippi for organising the murders. The prosecution was prompted by work by investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell, aided by Illinois High School teacher Barry Bradford and three of his students.
Together the studentteacher team produced a documentary for the National History Day contest. It presented important new evidence and compelling reasons to reopen the case. Bradford also obtained an interview with Killen, which helped convince the state to investigate.
Convicted of three counts of manslaughter, Killen was given a 60-year sentence. He died in jail in 2018.
Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were posthumously awarded the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. The three men are honoured on numerous sites and memorials across America.
On June 20, 2016, federal and state authorities officially closed the case, ending the possibility of further prosecution.