Season of Terror

may 2, 1964 season of terror hey called it Freedom Sum- in the Mississippi River near explained, because the White all charges against the White The South’s Tmer. For many, however, the Tallulah, La., found the lower Knights believed they were Knights, without explanation most summer of 1964 would be re- half of a badly decomposed black Muslims plotting an and without presenting the evi- dangerous membered as a season of terror. body. The body was dressed in armed uprising of local blacks. dence to a grand jury. It was the year that hundreds jeans and the ankles were tied Dee was suspected because he Federal authorities reopened Klan organi- of college students, recruited with rope. FBI agents rushed to had once lived in Chicago and the case in 2000 after the Jack- zation, the from Northern campuses in the scene, suspecting the body Moore because he had partici- son Clarion-Ledger reported that Mississippi a highly publicized campaign, might be one of the missing pated in a student demonstra- Dee and Moore were possibly White Knights, came to work in rural Mississip- civil rights workers. The search tion. (In fact, the black Muslim killed on federal land in the planned a pi. They started Freedom Schools continued, and the next day a plot was a wild, unfounded Homochitto National Forest. violent to teach black children about second body was discovered. rumor.) In March 2003, an assistant U.S. response for charles their rights and their heritage. This one was decapitated and In his confession, Edwards Attorney concluded that there eddie moore They coached adults through a piece of wire was wrapped described the killing. The was “no chance” for a success- Freedom 1944-1964 the hurdles of voter registration around the torso. White Knights abducted ful prosecution and closed the Summer. Killed by Klansmen, procedures. And they brought A school key was found in Moore and Dee from a roadside investigation. Charles Moore Meadville, Miss. national attention to the repres- the jeans on the first body, and took them deep into the In 2005, Moore’s brother, and Henry sion and poverty that enslaved identifying it as Charles Moore. Homochitto National Forest, Thomas, persuaded U.S. Attor- Dee were the black people in Mississippi. The second body was identified where they tied them to trees ney Dunn Lampton of Jackson They also confronted a force as Henry Dee. and beat them unconscious. to take another look at the first victims. of white resistance more brutal Two White Knights mem- Then the Klansmen loaded case. In January 2007, Seale than any of them had imag- bers — James Ford Seale, 29, their victims into a car and was indicted on federal kid- ined — the kind of terrorism duct “counterattacks” against forgotten and Charles Marcus Edwards, drove to the Louisiana side of napping and conspiracy charg- that had haunted blacks in the “selected individual targets.” victims 31 — were arrested for the the Mississippi River. After ty- es, and the following June, a South for generations. A month and a half later, Maisey Moore last saw her son murders. Seale, a truck driver, ing heavy weights (including a jury of eight whites and four White Knights murdered James Charles talking to Henry Dee was the son of a White Knights Jeep motor block) to their bod- blacks convicted him of both counterattack Chaney, Andrew Goodman on May 2. Moore, 20, had just chapter leader. Edwards worked ies, they threw them in. charges after hearing testimo- on civil rights and Michael Schwerner in one been expelled from college for at the International Paper The FBI gave Edwards’ ny describing the murders Even before Freedom Summer of the most widely publicized taking part in a student dem- Company in Natchez, a center confession along with other evi- from Edwards, who received began, members of the South’s atrocities of the entire Civil onstration. He had gone into of White Knights activity. dence to state prosecutors, who immunity from prosecution. A henry most violent Klan organization, Rights Movement. Meadville to look for work. Edwards gave the FBI a were responsible for bringing judge sentenced Seale to three hezekiah dee the Mississippi White Knights, By the end of the summer, Dee, 19, worked at a local lum- signed confession. Moore and murder charges. But a Justice of life terms in prison for his role 1945-1964 were planning their response. 80 people had been beaten, ber company and lived with Dee had been murdered, he the Peace promptly dismissed in the murders. Killed by Klansmen, They began by burning 64 35 shot at, five murdered, and his grandmother near the Ho- left Meadville, Miss. crosses on a single April eve- more than 20 black churches mochitto National Forest. Klansmen thought they ning throughout Mississippi. By had been burned to the ground When Moore did not come would be able to stop the June, the White Knights had in Mississippi alone. Much of home that night, his mother above right Civil Rights Movement by established 29 chapters with an the violence could be traced to assumed he had gone to Loui- intimidating blacks. When Rescuers drag Mississippi estimated 10,000 members. members of the White Knights. siana to look for a job. When masked confrontations did rivers in a massive search On May 3, White Knights Although the murders of he still had not returned in for three civil rights workers. Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers Chaney, Goodman and Schwer- two days, Mrs. Moore notified not work, they resorted to The bodies of Charles issued what amounted to a dec- ner received worldwide atten- the sheriff. A few days later, violence. Moore and Henry Dee were laration of war against the Free- tion, two other White Knights the sheriff told Mrs. Moore discovered during the time dom Summer workers. “The victims went practically un- that the two were staying with the search was under way. events which will occur in Mis- noticed. They were Charles Thelma Collins, Dee’s sister, in sissippi this summer may well Moore and Henry Dee, young Louisiana. Unconvinced, Mrs. determine the fate of Christian black Mississippians who had Moore and a relative traveled to civilization for centuries to disappeared in early May. Their Collins’ home. Charles Moore come,” Bowers wrote in his mutilated bodies were discov- and Henry Dee were not there Imperial Executive Order to all ered in the Mississippi River and never had been. White Knights members. Bow- during the massive search for More than two months later, 62 ers urged his members to con- the three civil rights workers. on July 12, 1964, a man fishing 63.

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