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The End of Freedom School

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The End of Freedom School june 21, 1964 the end of freedom school ount Zion Methodist Congress of Racial Equality son of a domestic servant and MChurch had stood solid (CORE) since January and had a traveling plasterer. “J.E.,” as since the turn of the century, become accustomed to threats. his family called him, had once but by Sunday, June 21, 1964, For the Klan and its sympathiz- been suspended from school at nothing was left except a pile of ers (including many local law age 16 for wearing an NAACP bricks and ashes, a few charred enforcement officials), Schw- button. By the time he went hymnals, and the church bell. erner was despised as a symbol to work with CORE, he knew Three young civil rights work- of the civil rights invasion that better than to broadcast his ers — James Chaney, Andrew was threatening their way of civil rights views. He rarely Goodman and Michael Schw- life. They hated him for his discussed his activities, even erner — stood amid the rubble, friendships with local blacks, with his closest friends. It was james chaney staring dismally at what would for his attempts to challenge a reckless line of work for a michael 1943-1964 have been their first Freedom segregation and for his open black Southerner, and Fannie schwerner Civil rights worker School. Church members had disregard for Southern stan- Lee Chaney was worried for 1939-1964 abducted and slain only reluctantly agreed to make dards of appearance: He wore a her son. Civil rights worker by Klansmen, their building available for short beard at a time when no But Chaney was invaluable abducted and slain Philadelphia, Miss. civil rights activities for fear that respectable Southern man wore to CORE. He knew every by Klansmen, something like this would happen. facial hair. back road, every farmhouse in Philadelphia, Miss. Now their church was in ru- The White Knights of the the county, and he was behind ins. Several of its members had Ku Klux Klan, who nicknamed the wheel when he and Schw- been beaten by Klansmen, and Schwerner “Goatee,” had erner left the church ruins opposite page the three civil rights workers plotted to kill him as early as that Sunday. The bodies of James were in danger. The Klansmen March, but their attempts so The third person in the Chaney, Andrew Goodman who burned the church were far had failed. car with them was Andrew and Michael Schwerner looking for Michael Schwerner. Schwerner’s closest associ- Goodman, an anthropology one of the earliest civil rights Klansmen immediately began three young men were taken are excavated after an ate, James Earl Chaney, had major from New York who was marches in Washington when gathering at the home of a out of the car and shot at point- anonymous informer notified targeted helped convince Mount Zion spending his first day in Mis- he was only 14. At age 16, he member in Meridian. Job assign- blank range. Their bodies were law enforcement of their Schwerner, a 24-year-old social members to host the Freedom sissippi as a volunteer for the had picketed a Woolworth ments were handed out, direc- deposited at a nearby farm location. worker from New York City, School. Chaney, 21, had grown Mississippi Summer Project. store in New York City in sup- tions given, meeting times coor- where an earthen dam was un- had worked in Meridian for the up in Meridian as the oldest Goodman had participated in port of the Southern sit-ins. dinated. Three Klansmen were der construction. The bulldozer above sent out to buy rubber gloves. operator who had been hired by andrew trapped At a press conference, Dr. goodman Another was assigned to contact the Klan scooped out a hole for Martin Luther King Jr. holds When Chaney, Goodman and a local bulldozer operator. the bodies and built the dam 1943-1964 photos of the then-missing Schwerner left the church Deputy Price jailed the civil above them. Civil rights worker civil rights workers. that afternoon, they headed rights workers without letting The disappearance of the abducted and slain toward Philadelphia, Miss. them use the telephone. Then, three civil rights workers sent by Klansmen, At the town limits, they were about 10 o’clock that night, he shock waves throughout the Philadelphia, Miss. stopped by Neshoba County suddenly released them and or- world. Within hours after their Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price. dered them to return to Meridi- disappearance, top officials at Price arrested Chaney for an. Chaney, Goodman and Schw- the U.S. Justice Department speeding and Goodman and erner had not gone far before were notified. Within days, Schwerner for the arson of Price pulled them over again. President Johnson met with the Mount Zion church. (The lu- This time, he was accompanied parents of Goodman and Schw- dicrous charge was a familiar by two carloads of Klansmen. erner. By the end of the week, ploy of Whites who claimed Chaney was struck with a 100 FBI agents were assigned civil rights workers staged blackjack as soon as he stepped to search for the missing men. their own violence to create out of the car. All three were Despite widespread talk sympathy for their cause.) ordered into the back seat about the abduction and kill- The arrests of Chaney, of Price’s patrol car and then ings, no one in Neshoba County Goodman and Schwerner set a driven to an isolated spot off would tell the FBI what they 64 long-awaited plan into motion. Highway 19. One by one, the knew. Some suggested the mur- 65 right ders were a CORE publicity Mothers of the slain civil stunt. Others said the three men rights workers—Mrs. were troublemakers who got Chaney, Mrs. Goodman, what they deserved. One local and Mrs. Schwerner (left to white woman spoke out against right)—link arms after the the murders and lost her Sunday funeral service for Andrew School teaching job as a result. Goodman in New York City. “It has made me understand how Nazi Germany was pos- opposite page sible,” said Florence Mars. Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price The search for the three civil (left) and Sheriff Lawrence rights workers quickly became Rainey (right) at their trial. the biggest federal investigation ever conducted in Mississippi. Price was found guilty of The FBI dragged 50 miles of federal civil rights violations the Pearl River and marched in in the murder of the three columns through the swamps, civil rights workers, and looking for the bodies. Agents Rainey was acquitted. interviewed 1,000 people and built up a 150,000-page case file. Finally, an anonymous inform- er revealed the location of the for equality. Now, because two ment called a federal grand jury bodies in exchange for $30,000 whites were among the victims, and won indictments against 19 in federal reward money. The the world paid attention. men, including police officials next day, on August 4, a team Dennis reminded the crowd and Klansmen, for the murders. of FBI agents and a hired bull- of the martyrs who had gone On October 20, 1967, seven dozer dug up 10 tons of soil to before: Emmett Till, Mack Klansmen, including Samuel uncover the decomposed bodies Parker, Herbert Lee and Med- Bowers and Deputy Price, were of Chaney, Goodman and Schw- gar Evers. And he said, “I’m found guilty of federal civil erner. They discovered Chaney not going to stand here and rights violations in the deaths had been shot three times. In ask anyone not to be angry, of the three men. They were the tightly clenched fist of Andy not to be bitter tonight!” Den- sentenced to prison terms Goodman they found a handful nis struggled to control his ranging form three to 10 years. of soil from the dam. voice. “I’m sick and tired, and Three other defendants were Thousands of mourners and I ask you to be sick and tired freed by a hung jury, and eight civil rights leaders attended with me. The best way we can were acquitted. Another, James services for Mickey Schwerner remember James Chaney is to Jordan, pleaded guilty. and Andrew Goodman in New demand our rights… If you go It was the first time a jury in York City. back home and sit down and Mississippi had ever convicted At a Baptist church in Merid- take what these white men Klansmen in connection with ian on August 7, veteran CORE in Mississippi are doing to us the death of a black person or worker Dave Dennis rose to … if you take it and don’t do civil rights workers. But it took speak at James Chaney’s fu- something about it … then God nearly 30 years to get a convic- neral. The typically quiet man, damn your souls!” tion on state charges. On June known as an intellectual, looked In the months that followed, 21, 2005 — the 41st anniversary down to see James’ younger several Klansmen gave informa- of the Neshoba County killings brother Ben crying in the front tion to the FBI, but no charges — a jury in Philadelphia, Miss., row, and he was filled with were brought until civil rights convicted Edgar Ray Killen, 81, rage. Countless black people, activists sued for the legal right on three counts of manslaugh- like James Chaney, had given to prosecute the suspects. ter. He was sentenced to 60 66 their lives during the struggle Finally, the U.S. Justice Depart- years. 67.
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