Mississippi Burning Research Papers
Evelyn Morrey
Mrs. Guerra
English II Honors
4-24-16
Mississippi Burning Research Paper
Civil rights. A topic that has been the cause of endless grief for our country and its many minorities, particularly the black population. Up until the 20th of June, 1964, black civil rights were almost nonexistent. The events that would take place on this day and the following months would make a deep cut in our nation, a cut some are still recovering from today. The murder of three civil rights workers, and one of the biggest FBI cases in history would “Galvanize the nation and provide impetus for the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2” (“50 years since…”). The Mississippi Burning plays an important part in history as one of the …show more content…
cases that shaped the nation we know today.
The story begins in 1964, Mississippi.
Freedom summer; a widespread movement in Mississippi to increase the amount of black people registered to vote. The three victims, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, were leaders in this movement, putting them at the top of the KKK hit list. Michael was a 24 years old, and had been working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) for mere months when he and his wife moved to Meridian, Mississippi to help with the Freedom Summer by organizing boycotts and freedom schools. Schwerner brought his friend and native Meridian James Chaney along with him to help in this endeavor. James was only 21, and one of the only black civil rights workers in Mississippi at the time. Both Schwerner and Chaney were in Ohio to help CORE train new civil rights workers. Among those being trained was a 20-year-old named Andrew Goodman.
While the three were in Ohio, news of serious KKK action in Mississippi reached their ears and they were swift to take action. They piled into a CORE owned blue station wagon and drove to Mississippi to meet the opposition. The KKK is a dangerous foe, but in the end the battle for civil rights was only three-on-three. Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman versus three formidable KKK members known as Edgar Ray Killen, Cecil Price, and Sam Bowers. When Sam Bowers, the KKK Grand Wizard at the time, heard that Michael Schwerner was working in Mississippi, he took action …show more content…
immediately.
Sam bowers, the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan of Mississippi, sent work in May, 1964 to the Klansman of Lauderdale and Neshoba counties that it was time to “activate Plan 4.” Plan 4 provided for “the elimination” of the despised civil rights activist Michael Schwerner, who the Klan called “Goatee” or “Jew-Boy.” Schwerner, the first white civil rights worker based outside of the capitol of Jackson, had earned the enmity of the Klan by organizing a black boycott of a white-owned business and aggressively trying to register blacks in and around meridian to vote. (Linder)
After the order was given, a trap was set for Schwerner at Mount Zion Church in Longdale, Mississippi.
Mount Zion Church was a church in Mississippi whose congregation was almost entirely black.
Schwerner and Chaney had been there on Memorial Day, 1964, earlier to ask the church for permission to use the building as a Freedom school; a school for educating black people on how to register to vote. This information was leaked to the KKK, who promptly figured out when Schwerner was supposed to return to the church. On June 16th, the multiple Klansmen surrounded Mount Zion Church, armed to the teeth in the hopes of catching Schwerner. Unfortunately for them, they did not know about the training session in Oxford Ohio, where Michael was that day. When the Klansmen stormed the church in the hopes of finding him, they turned up emptyhanded. In rage, they dragged the churchgoers outside the building and began to beat them severely. Within minutes the kerosene was poured and Mount Zion Church went up in
smoke.
When the news of this event reached the ears of Schwerner and company, they left the training session and started driving to Longdale immediately. Their fellow CORE workers informed them that the team of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney had a hotel room in Meridian to stay the night before heading to Longdale, and while they knew of the hotel arrangements they were never able to check in. Cecil Price, a Mississippi Klansman and Deputy Sheriff of the Meridian/Longdale area, was on patrol duty that night while the three were driving to their hotel. When Price noticed that the lone car that night was a CORE owned car, he got excited. When he saw who was in said CORE owned car, he was ecstatic. He immediately pulled them over and had them arrested under alleged charges of speeding. Price brought the three civil rights workers to the local station, where he had them detained for multiple hours and denied any requests for phone calls from them. He himself however, made a call to Sam Bowers, informing him that he had Schwerner in custody. Price, also called the Klan Kleagle (recruiter), Edgar Ray Killen to discuss the plan for getting rid of the three civil rights workers. Once Killen had briefed Price on the plan, Price made about three more calls before finally releasing Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney from custody. (“MIBURN case part 1”)
As the three workers drove away from the station, Price followed them. Slowly but surely, more cars filled with Klansmen joined Price in following the workers. The three workers knew they were being followed, and ended up actually speeding to try and outrun the Klansmen. Unfortunately, it was three cars to one, and the workers found themselves surrounded. They were then forced out of their car and put in the back of Deputy Price’s car. Price, while being followed by the other two Klansmen in their cars, took the three workers down an unmarked dirt road known to the locals as Rock Cut Road. What happened next would proceed to shake the nation to its core.
Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman were ushered out of Deputy Price’s car only to see the KKK in its full glory. The three civil rights workers were then beaten to the point where they were almost unrecognizable. After the Klansmen had thoroughly beaten them, a Klansman named Wayne Roberts pulled the trigger. One for Schwerner, one for Goodman, and one for Chaney, all at point blank range. The bodies were then buried 16 feet under an earthen dam on the private property of a farmer in the Klan, who had suggested using his property in an earlier meeting. “The farm was owned by Philadelphia businessman Olen Burrage who reportedly had announced at a Klan meeting when the impending arrival in Mississippi of an army of civil rights workers was discussed, ‘Hell, I've got a dam that'll hold a hundred of them’" (Linder). While the bodies were being buried, more Klansmen set the CORE station wagon ablaze then hid it as well. News of their disappearance spread quickly, and the FBI received a call from Mississippi less than 24 hours after the murders.
Things happened fast once the FBI was brought in. Over 20 agents were brought in to perform an intense search of the area. When simply searching did not work, the FBI moved into full-on investigation mode, and started interrogating many of the locals. Unfortunately, most of these locals were either in or knew about the murders, so all of them were silent. Supposedly, an informant was brought in to the tune of $30,000 and a full pardon. “We were able to secure information leading to the location of the bodies; however, the source cannot be disclosed” (“MIBURN case part 1) This informant tipped off the FBI to the location of the bodies, as well as the charred skeleton that used to be the CORE station wagon. The case was named MIBURN (Mississippi Burning) due to the burning of the CORE station wagon and Mount Zion Church. After the bodies were found, more people started talking and finally arrests were made and trials were underway.
One problem with the legal system is that when one is judged by a jury of their peers, their peers often think like them. This was exactly the case for the MIBURN trials. Almost everyone involved was originally arrested, but very few actually did time and those who did almost always got out on parole. Some of the Klansmen directly responsible, such as Cecil Price and Edgar Ray Killen, walked away Scott free, particularly Killen. Everyone knew he was guilty; it was written all over his face. However, the jury was stuck because one jury member simply could not bring herself to convict a preacher, so Sam Bowers was convicted in Killen’s stead. According to Bowers, this was not a problem. In a 1999 interview, he stated, “I was quite delighted to be convicted and have the main instigator of the entire affair walk out of the courtroom a free man. Everybody, including the trial judge and the prosecutors and everybody else, knows that that happened” (Qtd. in Brunner). Once the original trials were over, the FBI realized just how out of hand the KKK was and therefore opened up an FBI office in Mississippi. They say themselves:
The Mississippi burning, or MIBURN, case quickly became one of the Bureau’s biggest investigations, FBI resources and personnel that moved into Mississippi that summer—including the opening of the new FBI field office in the state capitol— reflected the massive effort. (Mississippi Burning)
After this the case was closed. Almost 50 years later, on the 41st anniversary of the murders, the case was reopened due to compelling new evidence. Edgar Ray Killen, along with 18 other people, was convicted with three charges of manslaughter on June 23, 2005. “Judge Marcus Gordon today sentenced Edgar Ray Killen to serve three 20-year terms, one for each conviction of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964” (Linder). At the end of the day, the events of the MIBURN case really shook the United States as a whole. It was the final push everyone needed to let LBJ sign the Civil Rights Act into existence. When people realized that two of the workers that were killed were in fact white, it hit that this racism handed down from generation to generation had gone too far. As mentioned earlier, it also caused the FBI to open up a base in Mississippi which allowed them to really cut the KKK down to size. Overall, even though this event was truly tragic, a United States without common civil rights is a much more tragic event. Truly, the MIBURN case has an important place in history as one of the cases that shaped the nation we know today.
Mrs. Guerra
English II Honors
4-24-16
Mississippi Burning Research Paper
Civil rights. A topic that has been the cause of endless grief for our country and its many minorities, particularly the black population. Up until the 20th of June, 1964, black civil rights were almost nonexistent. The events that would take place on this day and the following months would make a deep cut in our nation, a cut some are still recovering from today. The murder of three civil rights workers, and one of the biggest FBI cases in history would “Galvanize the nation and provide impetus for the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2” (“50 years since…”). The Mississippi Burning plays an important part in history as one of the …show more content…
cases that shaped the nation we know today.
The story begins in 1964, Mississippi.
Freedom summer; a widespread movement in Mississippi to increase the amount of black people registered to vote. The three victims, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, were leaders in this movement, putting them at the top of the KKK hit list. Michael was a 24 years old, and had been working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) for mere months when he and his wife moved to Meridian, Mississippi to help with the Freedom Summer by organizing boycotts and freedom schools. Schwerner brought his friend and native Meridian James Chaney along with him to help in this endeavor. James was only 21, and one of the only black civil rights workers in Mississippi at the time. Both Schwerner and Chaney were in Ohio to help CORE train new civil rights workers. Among those being trained was a 20-year-old named Andrew Goodman.
While the three were in Ohio, news of serious KKK action in Mississippi reached their ears and they were swift to take action. They piled into a CORE owned blue station wagon and drove to Mississippi to meet the opposition. The KKK is a dangerous foe, but in the end the battle for civil rights was only three-on-three. Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman versus three formidable KKK members known as Edgar Ray Killen, Cecil Price, and Sam Bowers. When Sam Bowers, the KKK Grand Wizard at the time, heard that Michael Schwerner was working in Mississippi, he took action …show more content…
immediately.
Sam bowers, the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan of Mississippi, sent work in May, 1964 to the Klansman of Lauderdale and Neshoba counties that it was time to “activate Plan 4.” Plan 4 provided for “the elimination” of the despised civil rights activist Michael Schwerner, who the Klan called “Goatee” or “Jew-Boy.” Schwerner, the first white civil rights worker based outside of the capitol of Jackson, had earned the enmity of the Klan by organizing a black boycott of a white-owned business and aggressively trying to register blacks in and around meridian to vote. (Linder)
After the order was given, a trap was set for Schwerner at Mount Zion Church in Longdale, Mississippi.
Mount Zion Church was a church in Mississippi whose congregation was almost entirely black.
Schwerner and Chaney had been there on Memorial Day, 1964, earlier to ask the church for permission to use the building as a Freedom school; a school for educating black people on how to register to vote. This information was leaked to the KKK, who promptly figured out when Schwerner was supposed to return to the church. On June 16th, the multiple Klansmen surrounded Mount Zion Church, armed to the teeth in the hopes of catching Schwerner. Unfortunately for them, they did not know about the training session in Oxford Ohio, where Michael was that day. When the Klansmen stormed the church in the hopes of finding him, they turned up emptyhanded. In rage, they dragged the churchgoers outside the building and began to beat them severely. Within minutes the kerosene was poured and Mount Zion Church went up in
smoke.
When the news of this event reached the ears of Schwerner and company, they left the training session and started driving to Longdale immediately. Their fellow CORE workers informed them that the team of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney had a hotel room in Meridian to stay the night before heading to Longdale, and while they knew of the hotel arrangements they were never able to check in. Cecil Price, a Mississippi Klansman and Deputy Sheriff of the Meridian/Longdale area, was on patrol duty that night while the three were driving to their hotel. When Price noticed that the lone car that night was a CORE owned car, he got excited. When he saw who was in said CORE owned car, he was ecstatic. He immediately pulled them over and had them arrested under alleged charges of speeding. Price brought the three civil rights workers to the local station, where he had them detained for multiple hours and denied any requests for phone calls from them. He himself however, made a call to Sam Bowers, informing him that he had Schwerner in custody. Price, also called the Klan Kleagle (recruiter), Edgar Ray Killen to discuss the plan for getting rid of the three civil rights workers. Once Killen had briefed Price on the plan, Price made about three more calls before finally releasing Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney from custody. (“MIBURN case part 1”)
As the three workers drove away from the station, Price followed them. Slowly but surely, more cars filled with Klansmen joined Price in following the workers. The three workers knew they were being followed, and ended up actually speeding to try and outrun the Klansmen. Unfortunately, it was three cars to one, and the workers found themselves surrounded. They were then forced out of their car and put in the back of Deputy Price’s car. Price, while being followed by the other two Klansmen in their cars, took the three workers down an unmarked dirt road known to the locals as Rock Cut Road. What happened next would proceed to shake the nation to its core.
Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman were ushered out of Deputy Price’s car only to see the KKK in its full glory. The three civil rights workers were then beaten to the point where they were almost unrecognizable. After the Klansmen had thoroughly beaten them, a Klansman named Wayne Roberts pulled the trigger. One for Schwerner, one for Goodman, and one for Chaney, all at point blank range. The bodies were then buried 16 feet under an earthen dam on the private property of a farmer in the Klan, who had suggested using his property in an earlier meeting. “The farm was owned by Philadelphia businessman Olen Burrage who reportedly had announced at a Klan meeting when the impending arrival in Mississippi of an army of civil rights workers was discussed, ‘Hell, I've got a dam that'll hold a hundred of them’" (Linder). While the bodies were being buried, more Klansmen set the CORE station wagon ablaze then hid it as well. News of their disappearance spread quickly, and the FBI received a call from Mississippi less than 24 hours after the murders.
Things happened fast once the FBI was brought in. Over 20 agents were brought in to perform an intense search of the area. When simply searching did not work, the FBI moved into full-on investigation mode, and started interrogating many of the locals. Unfortunately, most of these locals were either in or knew about the murders, so all of them were silent. Supposedly, an informant was brought in to the tune of $30,000 and a full pardon. “We were able to secure information leading to the location of the bodies; however, the source cannot be disclosed” (“MIBURN case part 1) This informant tipped off the FBI to the location of the bodies, as well as the charred skeleton that used to be the CORE station wagon. The case was named MIBURN (Mississippi Burning) due to the burning of the CORE station wagon and Mount Zion Church. After the bodies were found, more people started talking and finally arrests were made and trials were underway.
One problem with the legal system is that when one is judged by a jury of their peers, their peers often think like them. This was exactly the case for the MIBURN trials. Almost everyone involved was originally arrested, but very few actually did time and those who did almost always got out on parole. Some of the Klansmen directly responsible, such as Cecil Price and Edgar Ray Killen, walked away Scott free, particularly Killen. Everyone knew he was guilty; it was written all over his face. However, the jury was stuck because one jury member simply could not bring herself to convict a preacher, so Sam Bowers was convicted in Killen’s stead. According to Bowers, this was not a problem. In a 1999 interview, he stated, “I was quite delighted to be convicted and have the main instigator of the entire affair walk out of the courtroom a free man. Everybody, including the trial judge and the prosecutors and everybody else, knows that that happened” (Qtd. in Brunner). Once the original trials were over, the FBI realized just how out of hand the KKK was and therefore opened up an FBI office in Mississippi. They say themselves:
The Mississippi burning, or MIBURN, case quickly became one of the Bureau’s biggest investigations, FBI resources and personnel that moved into Mississippi that summer—including the opening of the new FBI field office in the state capitol— reflected the massive effort. (Mississippi Burning)
After this the case was closed. Almost 50 years later, on the 41st anniversary of the murders, the case was reopened due to compelling new evidence. Edgar Ray Killen, along with 18 other people, was convicted with three charges of manslaughter on June 23, 2005. “Judge Marcus Gordon today sentenced Edgar Ray Killen to serve three 20-year terms, one for each conviction of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964” (Linder). At the end of the day, the events of the MIBURN case really shook the United States as a whole. It was the final push everyone needed to let LBJ sign the Civil Rights Act into existence. When people realized that two of the workers that were killed were in fact white, it hit that this racism handed down from generation to generation had gone too far. As mentioned earlier, it also caused the FBI to open up a base in Mississippi which allowed them to really cut the KKK down to size. Overall, even though this event was truly tragic, a United States without common civil rights is a much more tragic event. Truly, the MIBURN case has an important place in history as one of the cases that shaped the nation we know today.