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National Outrage Over Murder Of Three Civil Rights Workers

Historical Events

On June 21, 1964 Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Meridian, Mississippi.

Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and were working to register black voters in Mississippi. James Chaney was a young black man who was acting as a liaison to the black community.

The three were arrested for speeding while coming back from a trip to Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were held while Klan members planned their murder. They were released from jail and chased down by a by a KKK lynch mob and killed.

The killings caused a national outrage and, when state authorities wouldn't act, the federal government charged 18 men. Seven were convicted.

The murders were the subject of the 1988 movie, Mississippi Burning, staring Gene Hackman.

Posted:  2002-08-22  2:05:11 PM

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