In June 1964, Michael Schwerner (from NY) and James Chaney (from MS) worked for the Congress of Racial Equality in Philadelphia MS; Andrew Goodman (from NY) was one of the hundreds of college students from across the country who volunteered to work on voter registration and Civil Rights in Mississippi’s Summer Project 1964. The 3 men knew their work was dangerous but necessary, given that the local KKK membership was soaring.
Goodman 20, Chaney 21, Schwerner 24
June 1964
Schwerner had organised local boycotts of biased businesses and helped with black voter registration in MS. So the KKK was furious, using violence to fight Civil Rights men. Klan members targeted and burned 20 black Mississippi churches in June 1964, including Neshoba County's Mt Zion Baptist Church. A mob of armed KKK members descended on a local church meeting looking for Schwerner, but fortunately he’d gone to Oxford Ohio that day, to train a group of Freedom Summer volunteers. Instead the KKK torched the church and thumped the churchgoers.
The Klan had missed Schwerner, but their trap was set: Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman soon headed south, investigating the fire, interviewing witnesses and meeting fellow campaigners. After driving to Philadelphia, the 3 men drove towards Meridian in a station-wagon, to visit the burned Mt Zion. En route, their Congress of Racial Equality/CORE station wagon was stopped and police arrested them: Chaney was charged with speeding, while Schwerner and Goodman were held for investigation. Then Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price took them to Philadelphia gaol!
Price told the 3 men to remain in gaol until a Justice of the Peace calculated their fines. Schwerner asked to make a phone call, but Price denied him and left. Price returned at 10pm, collected Chaney’s fine and told the men to leave the county. They were never seen again
FBI
Deputy Sheriff Price and Sheriff Rainey at arraignment hearing in 1964
Edgar Killen (L) and Cecil Price (R) happily awaited their verdicts
After years of court battles, 7 of the 18 defendants were found guilty in Oct 1967 including Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price and Samuel Bowers, Imperial Wizard of Mississippi’s White Knights of the KKK, but none on murder charges. One major conspirator, Rev Edgar Killen, went free after a juror could NOT convict any Baptist preacher. But in the long run, the Klan’s homicidal ways were less successful. The murders galvanised the nation and provided impetus for the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 in July. In 1970 the convicted men each received a sentence of 3-10 years.
Was it true that in 1980 Ronald Reagan launched his election campaign lauding States’ Rights near Philadelphia MS, within walking distance from where the 3 bodies had been buried?
In 1998 a reporter for a Jackson newspaper published excerpts from a 1984 interview with Imperial Wizard Bowers where he spoke proudly about the 3 murders and Rev Killen’s responsibility. This interview, sealed till Bowers’ death, is now freely available.
Historical marker at Mt Zion Church in Neshoba County MI
CBS
The case drew national attention, in part because Schwerner and Goodman were white Northerners. But authorities claimed that the disappearance of the 3 workers could have been a Civil Rights Movement publicity stunt. Worst still, in 1964 Mississippi was the only state without a central FBI office, so in June, 200+ agents had to travel from the New Orleans office instead! These agents found the destroyed CORE station wagon!!
After 6 weeks searching for the 3 bodies, a Highway Patrol officer sent investigators to a deep earthen dam on a Philadelphia farm where the FBI found them. Throughout 1964, state and local law enforcement did not pursue the crime, claiming insufficient evidence, but the FBI continued. In June 1964, Klansman James Jordan tortured-shot Chaney and Klansman Wayne Roberts tortured-shot Schwerner & Goodman. The killers loaded the bodies into the CORE station-wagon, then buried the bodies in the earthen dam.
In July investigators combed Mississippi’s woods and rivers, eventually finding 8 African American male skeletons. Three were identified as 19 year old students who were kidnapped & murdered in May 1964. But nothing was recorded about the 5 other bodies. Black deaths presumably mattered less.
After 6 weeks searching for the 3 bodies, a Highway Patrol officer sent investigators to a deep earthen dam on a Philadelphia farm where the FBI found them. Throughout 1964, state and local law enforcement did not pursue the crime, claiming insufficient evidence, but the FBI continued. In June 1964, Klansman James Jordan tortured-shot Chaney and Klansman Wayne Roberts tortured-shot Schwerner & Goodman. The killers loaded the bodies into the CORE station-wagon, then buried the bodies in the earthen dam.
In July investigators combed Mississippi’s woods and rivers, eventually finding 8 African American male skeletons. Three were identified as 19 year old students who were kidnapped & murdered in May 1964. But nothing was recorded about the 5 other bodies. Black deaths presumably mattered less.
Not showing much respect for the court,
UMKC
Because murder was a state crime, the Federal Government couldn’t bring charges. So in Dec, the Justice Dept charged 21 men with conspiring to violate Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman’s civil rights. Prosecutors brought the charges before a federal grand jury, indicting 18 men in Jan 1965. But presiding Judge William Cox dismissed the charges against most defendants, maintaining that the law applied only to law enforcement officers. The prosecution appealed, and in 1966 the Supreme Court reinstated the charges, ruling the law applied to law enforcement officials AND civilians.
In Feb 1967 a Federal Grand Jury re-indicted the men, and in Oct the trial began in segregationist Judge Cox’s court. As the trial proceeded, the prosecution read the 1964 confessions of Klan members Horace Barnette & James Jordan: After leaving Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman in Philadelphia’s gaol, Price called Baptist Minister Edgar Ray Killen, a local KKK leader. Killen directed Klansmen to gather in Philadelphia and when the KKK cars left Philadelphia, Price released the Civil Rights workers from gaol and ordered them gone. He then chased the CORE station wagon.
Killen was correct... he walked. Price was found guilty. 1967
After years of court battles, 7 of the 18 defendants were found guilty in Oct 1967 including Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price and Samuel Bowers, Imperial Wizard of Mississippi’s White Knights of the KKK, but none on murder charges. One major conspirator, Rev Edgar Killen, went free after a juror could NOT convict any Baptist preacher. But in the long run, the Klan’s homicidal ways were less successful. The murders galvanised the nation and provided impetus for the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 in July. In 1970 the convicted men each received a sentence of 3-10 years.
Was it true that in 1980 Ronald Reagan launched his election campaign lauding States’ Rights near Philadelphia MS, within walking distance from where the 3 bodies had been buried?
In 1998 a reporter for a Jackson newspaper published excerpts from a 1984 interview with Imperial Wizard Bowers where he spoke proudly about the 3 murders and Rev Killen’s responsibility. This interview, sealed till Bowers’ death, is now freely available.
CBS
In 1999, MS Attorney General Michael Moore reopened the case, using the FBI’s original investigation’s records. In Jan 2005, a grand jury charged Rev Killen with murder. Even then, the grand jury found insufficient evidence for a murder conviction. On the 41st anniversary of his crime, Rev Killen was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years gaol, dying in comfort aged 93.
Photo credits: CBS News
34 comments:
The photos of deputy and sheriff reveal such vulgar posture there. The contempt attitude is palpable. The story is so horrible to read. It gives me goosebumps
The three men knew their work was very necessary but they were also aware of the probable risk to their lives. If I was a civil rights worker from the north and or black and or Jewish, I probably would not have taken the risk. They were very brave.
These were terrible human beings, so misguided and bigoted. Prejudice runs deep and is still evident, though usually less obviously displayed.
roentare
I agree. Even if the men facing charges were confident they would get off, the open legs, mouths being filled with food and smirks showed nothing but contempt. I remember 1964 crises very well, but I never knew of the disrespect that people were prepared to blatantly show a legal court process.
In 1964, we also didn't know that Mississippi was the only state without a central FBI office. In any case we didn't understand the implications of that dilemma.
Joe
it was extremely probable that the three men were going to be murdered, James Chaney primarily and then his two colleagues would have to be silenced to protect the killers.
If the men hadn't been crystal clear about their fate before they travelled, their Congress of Racial Equality station wagon was stopped and police arrested them, then they were left unprotected in gaol.
jabblog
I too was always certain that racism was bigoted and destructive, and that it still exists today. In my naivety, however, I had assumed that the police, courts and gaol systems would obey the laws and punish the racists.
Most people would look back at this time and these events , shrug their shoulders and say that was how it was and these men knew what they were doing was dangerous but that is a load of bullshit, did they expect to be murdered for what they were dong I doubt it and it took so long for them to get anyone to really pay for their murder
That was a terrible time in US history. I know all countries have sad events, but this one went on for so long and was so full of bad events. And in some ways, it is still going on, after all these decades. Have a great end of July!
I am so sorry that these brave men were killed!
Australia certainly can't preach to other countries too loudly about such outrages but that really was horrible. I wonder if the Federal authorities would have been so persistent if it was three black men and not one black and two white men.
A terrible series of events and no doubt replicated in other states where the Klan was allowed to control the police and judiciary.
Jo-Anne
would most people really shrug their shoulders and ignore the racist past? I think most people today would acknowledge the terrible things that happened, perhaps noting that Mississippi was a very different state from their own.
Erika
I agree with you...there were truly terrible events in most countries in the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But after WW2, most people hoped that killing the nation's _own citizens_ would never ever happen again, even if wars _between nations_ did continue. What an irony :(
Irina
Two things might remind people of the 3 heroes' bravery
1]Freedom Place, from 66th-70th Streets west of West End Ave., NY
2] The fact that the 3 deaths caused the public to take action and helped the Voting Rights Act of 1965 get passed.
Andrew
Absolutely true... and not just Australia. South Africa, Germany, Ukraine, Iran, etc. We have zero right to criticise other nations for racism in their history.. but we all should still be learning from KKK practices, Apartheid, ethnic cleansing etc
Fun60
The organised Ku Klux Klan movement saw a membership boost in 2017. Some 42 different Klan groups were active in 22 states then, although the numbers were still small according to the Anti-Defamation League, a nonpartisan civil rights advocacy group. The Klan, known for promoting white supremacist and white nationalism, has captured public attention amid fallout from race-fueled clashes eg there was a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville VA, to protest the removal of Confederate Gen Robert E Lee's statue, leaving people dead and injured.
U.S News, 14th Aug 2017
Just dreadful Hels. KKK have a lot to answer for as do some other organizations. Australia is not different in many ways to racism.
Great blog
Margaret,
in a way I am sorry that the Ku Klux Klan rightfully earned the credit for these crimes in Mississippi... there were heaps of other nasty racists who slithered out from underneath the police and court systems.
Australia had hideous racist practices but we didn't have the equivalent of the KKK, thankfully!! The Racial Discrimination Act (1975) proclaimed by the amazing P.M Gough Whitlam described the legislation as Australia’s first federal human rights and discrimination law. Has it achieved everything Whitlam hoped for? No, we have some way to go.
Rajani
you are a freelance writer... do you ever tackle the important history of racism in India, the USA or anywhere else?
Boa tarde e uma excelente quarta-feira. Eu gostei dos bordados e principalmente, sobre a necessidade de preservação do meio ambiente.
Their case eventually led to significant national attention and legal action, revealing the extent of the Klan’s influence and the dire need for federal intervention. It remains a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made by those who fought for equality and justice.
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I'm afraid, in reality, things are getting worse, even without the presence of KKK organization and the like. Sadly, both, members of government and ordinary people are involved in actions of a racist nature which often lead to killings.
Luiz
thanks for reading this post. Were you familiar with the tragic events in Mississippi?
DUTA
I know you are correct.. that racist members of government and ordinary people still continue today. After all the world has suffered in the 20th century, even after nations knew that racism was obscene, you would think that legislation and police practices everywhere would be strengthened.
Melody
if significant national attention and legal action were needed in the US, would it be a Federal or State responsibility? What happens if Federal and State laws are in conflict?
Here are some examples:
In overturning the conviction of a Klansman in Brandenburg vs Ohio (1969), the Supreme Court established that states could only suppress subversive speech that is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” In RAV vs St Paul (1992), the Supreme Court struck down a hate speech law that had been applied to youth who had burned a cross on a lawn, ruling that the law contained a form of viewpoint discrimination prohibited by the First Amendment. In Virginia vs Black (2003) the Court ruled that the First Amendment did not prohibit laws that penalised individuals who burned crosses with the intent of intimidating others.
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/ku-klux-klan/
Its just sickening . These forces are abroad again. All of them. It will be an ongoing battle in the US . The journalist Rachel Maddow has done a podcast Series called "Ultra" that covers this era and earlier and it really shows how the fight against the basest of human instincts has been going on in the US for a very very long time . This includes the continuous fight against Fascist tendencies racism and general intolerance . It well worth listening to if you haven't already done so .
mem
The continuous fight against Fascist tendencies, racism and intolerance is important but it isn't going to deal with governments and royal dynasties. Who do heads of state have to answer to, if they make decisions that are secret. Even if their racism is blatant, anyone who opposes them will end up gaoled for life, exiled or dead.
The best Maddow show was about the very nasty Sen Joseph McCarthy. But I DO believe that although most oppression/violence comes from the Far Right, perhaps some socialists and leftists need to be examined as well.
Very interesting to read ! I was shocked when in 1971 we went to the States and still saw benches for white and for colored people and toilets too ! I was asked if I knew were black people are coming from, I thought these people are stupid, and told them that it was their fault, that they were imported as slaves by them. They didn't know that and thought it was a lie !
Though of course I know of the KKK and their terror regime, much of what you write is new to me, especially about the legislation. Racism, or though I sometimes think of it as tribalism, can be found everywhere. The cruelty of the killing of those three men in which torture was used is down to ignorance but yet it happens all over the world.
Gattina
are you serious? They didn't know how slaves got to the U.S?
You have to worry about the quality of the history lessons in their schools.
thelma
absolutely it happens all over the world. Sometimes the killing is because of skin colour but it could be because of gender, religion, politics or sexual preferences.
I agree with roentare, what vile men. And such excess - why torture these men? It was just cruelty and a desire to be hateful. I recommend Percival Everett's novel The Trees for a wish fulfilling satire of how they might be punished
Mandy
Because I am totally anxious about sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and physical violence ALL the time, I would be very cautious before reading the Trees by Everett. So I read the Guardian's review as quickly as possible:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/31/the-trees-by-percival-everett-review-potent-satire-of-us-racism. What a world we lived/live in :(
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