Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Freeman Summer Murders Part I

The murders of Chaney, Goodman, andSchwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, theMississippi civil rights workers' murders or the Mississippi Burningmurders, refers to three activists who were abducted and murdered inPhiladelphia, Mississippi, in June 1964 during the Civil RightsMovement. The victims were James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi,and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City. Allthree were associated with the Council of Federated Organizations(COFO) and its member organization, the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE). They had been working with the Freedom Summer campaign byattempting to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote.Since 1890 and through the turn of the century, southern states hadsystematically disenfranchised most black voters by discrimination invoter registration and voting.

The three men had traveled fromMeridian to the community of Longdale to talk with congregationmembers at a black church that had been burned; the church had been acenter of community organization. The trio was arrested following atraffic stop for speeding outside Philadelphia, Mississippi, escortedto the local jail, and held for a number of hours. As the three lefttown in their car, they were followed by law enforcement and others.Before leaving Neshoba County, their car was pulled over. The threewere abducted, driven to another location, and shot to death at closerange. The three men's bodies were taken to an earthen dam where theywere buried.

The disappearance of the three men wasinitially investigated as a missing persons case. The civil rightsworkers' burnt-out car was found near a swamp three days after theirdisappearance. An extensive search of the area was conducted by theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), local and state authorities,and four hundred United States Navy sailors. The three men's bodieswere not discovered until two months later, when the team received atip. During the investigation it emerged that members of the localWhite Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff'sOffice, and the Philadelphia Police Department were involved in theincident.

The murder of the activists sparkednational outrage and an extensive federal investigation, filed asMississippi Burning (MIBURN), which later became the title of a 1988film loosely based on the events. In 1967, after the state governmentrefused to prosecute, the United States federal government chargedeighteen individuals with civil rights violations. Seven wereconvicted and received relatively minor sentences for their actions.Outrage over the activists' disappearances helped gain passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964.

Forty-one years after the murders tookplace, one perpetrator, Edgar Ray Killen, was charged by the state ofMississippi for his part in the crimes. In 2005 he was convicted ofthree counts of manslaughter and was given a 60-year sentence. OnJune 20, 2016, federal and state authorities officially closed thecase, ending the possibility of further prosecution. Killen died inprison in January 2018.

Background

In the early 1960s, the state ofMississippi, as well as most of the American South, defied federaldirection regarding racial integration. Recent Supreme Court rulingshad upset the Mississippi establishment, and White Mississippiansociety responded with open hostility. White supremacists usedtactics such as bombings, murders, vandalism, and intimidation inorder to discourage black Mississippians and their supporters fromthe Northern and Western states. In 1961, Freedom Riders, whochallenged the segregation of interstate buses and relatedfacilities, were attacked on their route. In September 1962, theUniversity of Mississippi riots had occurred in order to preventJames Meredith from enrolling at the school.