And 40 years ago today the bodies of civil rights organizers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney were found buried in a dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. The three young men were in Mississiippi as part of the 1964 Freedom Summer project, which focused on desegregation and voter registration campaigns through out Mississippi. The three were on their way to investigate a church burning when they went missing on June 21, 1964. Members of the Ku Klux Klan were suspected of the murder, but no one was ever prosecuted in the case. Last month, James Chaney’s brother called on the Justice Department to reopen the murder investigation.
40th Anniversary of Goodman, Schwerner, Chaney Murder
HeadlineAug 04, 2004