The Three Civil Rights Workers - EOTO

Three civil rights workers with the names of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman disappeared on June 21, 1964 near the town of Philadelphia Mississippi. What is now known and has developed into Mississippi Burning, the KKK had its eyes on this young group of men, men who had been very active in organizing local boycotts and trying to bring to light the importance of equality and justice for all. 

Chaney was an activist with the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE. Passionate for the rights of black citizens, he worked in a fight for achieving their voting rights. Goodman and Schwerner were college students from New York who had been apart of the Freedom Summer initiative. Similar to Chaney, this initiative aimed to increase voter registration among African Americans in Mississippi. 

In June of 1964, the three men joined hundreds of other activists with similar viewpoints as them to participate in Freedom Summer, or the Mississippi Summer Project. This was a registration drive that hoped to increase the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi. African Americans weren’t the only ones apart of this campaign though, over 700 white volunteers joined them to fight against voter intimidation and discrimination occurring at the polls. 

On the 16th of June, a Black church located in Neshoba County was burned down; activists including Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman sought to go to the location and investigate the incident. 5 days later, on June 21st, the three were driving to the church when they were arrested for allegedly speeding. While they were only held in jail for about three hours, members of the Ku Klux Klan found out about them being in the area, and just like that they were abducted. 

When no one had heard from the men the next morning, a massive search for them had been initiated. Local citizens, civil rights groups, federal authorities including the FBI had joined in on the search, becoming one of the largest investigations in Mississippi. 

From June 24th to August 3rd, a massive search that included the National Guard had been going on. From back roads to swamps to hollows, people were doing anything and everything in order to find out an answer about the men. At this point, the worst had already been assumed, but there was still no evidence that supported either side. 

Finally, on August 4th, 1964, the bodies of the three men were discovered in a dam located near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their deaths drew a significant amount of media attention to the civil rights movement and highlighted the violence that many activists in the South faced during the time. While several Klan members were compromised, the justice for the three men was extremely slow and they even received lesser charges further instituting the racism that occurred in the South during the time period. 

This incident heightened awareness for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s push for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Their story continues to serve as an indicator for the ongoing struggle for justice and equality in America, and it creates a telescopic view of the public outrage of the situation that ultimately drives the need for legislative change.