On This Day in History: January 6

Mississippi Burning

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The film Mississippi Burning tells the tale of the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964. It would be over 40 years before the man who instigated and planned the killings was finally brought to justice.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: January 6, 2005--

It was called the “Freedom Summer:” a volunteer effort to register as many Black people to vote in Mississippi as possible. Of course, there were plenty of alabastards who didn’t like that idea. Some didn’t like it so much they turned to murder.

Three men, one of them Black and two of them Jewish, were members of the Congress of Racial Equality and had been talking with members of a Black church that had been burned. Their names were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. After the three men drove away from the church, they were pulled over for speeding and arrested. Taken to the jail in Philadelphia, Mississippi, they were held for several hours then released. As they left town in their vehicle, they were followed by a posse of cars that included law enforcement.

The cops pulled them over a second time, and this time abducted the three men, drove them to another location, shot them all to death, and buried them. Local law enforcement didn’t do shit, so the FBI got involved to see a modicum of justice done. Eighteen men were alleged to have participated in the crime. Seven of them were convicted. One was deputy sheriff and KKK member Cecil Price, who served less than five years. None of the seven convicted served more than six years.

Edgar Killen was a KKK member and minister who incited and led the murders. He had been arrested after the crime, but his trial resulted in an 11-1 hung jury because one juror said she couldn’t convict a preacher. Yet some would not give up on the quest for justice. Evidence was gathered, Congress was lobbied, and on January 6, 2005, Killen was arrested for the murders a second time. The following June 21, 41 years to the day after the murders, he was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years’ incarceration.

His appeal failed and he died in prison in 2018 at the age of 92.

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