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 man 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 murders 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 ordered the men to leave by sundown or they would be shot. Although the men clearly intended to leave in peace, they were hunted down and murdered by a lynch mob made up of local police officers and townspeople, including the sheriff of Neshoba County, Cecil Price, as well as with several members of the Ku Klux Klan. Forty-four days later the men's bodies were found, along with the charred remains of the car they had been driving, abandoned on a Choctaw Indian reservation. Eighteen male suspects were put on trial in 1967, but most of them were set free later (see U.S. vs. Cecil Price et. al.). 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Civil Rights Movement in the United States, political, legal, and social struggle to gain full citizenship rights for African American and to achieve racial equality. ... James Earl Chaney was a civil rights worker who was murdered (along with Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman) by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... Meridian is a city located in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County in Mississippi, a state of the United States of America. ... Andrew Goodman (November 23, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was an American civil rights activist who was murdered by gun shot in 1964. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... Michael Schwerner (November 6, 1939 - June 21, 1964), called Mickey by friends and colleagues, was a CORE field worker kidnapped and killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to the civil-rights work he coordinated, which included promoting registration to vote among Mississippi African Americans. ... Jack Ruby murdered the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ... Philadelphia is a city located in Neshoba County, Mississippi. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Neshoba County is a county located in the state of Mississippi. ... Cecil Ray Price was linked to the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Pushmataha was the leader of the Choctaws during the removal era of the early 19th century. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Arguably one of the most famous court cases in American history, United States vs. ...

In 1964, William Bradford Huie told the story in his book Three Lives For Mississippi. Abraham Huie (November 13, 1910 - November 22, 1986) was an American journalist, editor, publisher and author. ...

The murders came to worldwide public attention twice in recent years. In 1988 the story was dramatized in the film Mississippi Burning, and on January 6, 2005 Edgar Ray Killen, one of the ringleaders in the murders, was arrested on three counts of murder. 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 on three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, after the jury opted for manslaughter instead of murder. Movie poster for Mississippi Burning Mississippi Burning is a 1988 film which tells a fictionalized version of the investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Edgar Ray Preacher Killen (born in 1925) is an American sawmill operator and part-time Baptist minister who conspired to kill several civil rights activists in 1964. ... Harlan Majure (born October 28, 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi) is a former mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi during the 1990s. ... A mayor (from the Latin maīor, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ... Philadelphia is a city located in Neshoba County, Mississippi. ... for alibi used in the sense of a legal defense, see the Wiktionary entry Alibi Alibi is a 1929 film written by Elaine S. Carrington, J.C. Nugent, C. Gardner Sullivan, Roland West and John Griffith Wray, from the play Nightstick by Carrington, Nugent and Wray. ... June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

See also

• Judge William Cox
• James Eastland
• Joseph L. Gormley

James Eastland James Oliver Eastland (November 28, 1904–February 19, 1986) was an American politician from Mississippi who served in the U.S. Senate briefly in 1941 and again from 1943 to 1978. ... Joseph Leo Gormley was the chief of chemistry and toxicology for the FBI. Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, he was raised in Somerville, Massachusetts. ...

External links

• Federal Bureau of Intimidation by Howard Zinn
• James Earl Chaney Foundation
• New arrest in 1964 civil rights murders (CNN.com)