Mississippi Civil Rights Workers (Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner) Murders FBI Files

Description

Mississippi Summer Murders: Timeline and Key Figures

Timeline of Main Events:

• Mid-June 1964: The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) begins voter registration drives in Mississippi as part of Freedom Summer. Orientation for registrars also begins.
• June 16, 1964: Acting on a tip, members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan descend on Mount Zion Church in Neshoba County looking for Michael Schwerner, who is not present. The Klansmen torch the church and beat churchgoers.
• June 20, 1964: James Chaney and Andrew Goodman travel to Mississippi to investigate the burning of Mount Zion Church. They interview witnesses and plan to meet with other activists.
• June 21, 1964:Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner drive into Philadelphia, Mississippi.
• They are arrested by Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, allegedly for speeding.
• 10:30 PM: Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner are released from jail and drive off towards Meridian in a blue station wagon.
• KKK members, following a prearranged plan, pursue the civil rights workers.
• Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner are never heard from again.
• Shortly After June 21, 1964: The FBI receives a tip about a burning station wagon seen in the woods off Highway 21, about 13 miles northeast of Philadelphia. It is identified as the missing men’s vehicle.
• August 4, 1964: Acting on an informant’s tip, the FBI exhumes the bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner from an earthen dam on a local farm, 14 feet below the surface.
• December 4, 1964: More than a dozen suspects, including Deputy Cecil Price and Sheriff Rainey, are indicted and arrested in connection with the murders.
• October 20, 1967: Following years of court battles, seven of the 18 defendants are found guilty in federal court for conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price is among those convicted, but none are convicted on murder charges. Edgar Ray Killen, a major conspirator, is not convicted after a single juror refuses to convict a Baptist preacher.
• June 21, 2005: Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in a state trial.
• June 2016: The U.S. Department of Justice releases a report to the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi detailing their investigation into the 1964 murders, authorized by the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

Cast of Characters:

• James Chaney: A Black civil rights activist from Mississippi. He was involved in voter registration efforts and was investigating the burning of Mount Zion Church when he was murdered.
• Andrew Goodman: A White civil rights activist and volunteer from New York. He traveled to Mississippi for Freedom Summer and was investigating the church burning with Chaney when they were both murdered.
• Michael Schwerner: A White civil rights activist from New York. He was particularly active in organizing boycotts of biased businesses and assisting with voter registration in Mississippi. He was the initial target of the KKK members who burned Mount Zion Church and was murdered alongside Chaney and Goodman.
• Cecil Price: A Deputy Sheriff in Neshoba County, Mississippi. He arrested Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner and was later involved in their murder. He was convicted in 1967 on federal charges related to the deprivation of their civil rights.
• Lawrence Rainey: The Sheriff of Neshoba County, Mississippi, at the time of the murders. He was a suspect in the case and was among those indicted in December 1964, but was not convicted in the 1967 trial.
• Edgar Ray Killen: A local Baptist preacher and a major conspirator in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. He was not convicted in the 1967 federal trial due to a hung jury. He was finally convicted of manslaughter in a state trial in 2005.
• Sam Holloway Bowers: A co-founder of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and later became a Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard. He was a major figure in the KKK’s activities in Mississippi and was involved in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner (for which he served time) and the later murder of Vernon Dahmer.
• Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ): The President of the United States during the Freedom Summer and the investigation into the murders. He secretly recorded many of his telephone conversations, including those related to the case, with figures like J. Edgar Hoover and Robert Kennedy.
• J. Edgar Hoover: The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during this period. He was involved in the investigation of the murders, and his conversations with President Johnson were recorded.
• Robert Kennedy: The Attorney General of the United States during the early part of the investigation. He was likely involved in the federal government’s response to the murders and his conversations with President Johnson were recorded.
• Lee White: A staff member in President Johnson’s administration who participated in phone calls related to the murders.
• James Eastland: A segregationist Democratic Senator from Mississippi. He was among the participants in President Johnson’s recorded telephone conversations related to the civil rights situation in Mississippi.
• Council of Federated Organizations (COFO): A coalition of civil rights groups that organized Freedom Summer, including voter registration drives in Mississippi.
• White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan: A particularly violent faction of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi, of which Sam Bowers was a key leader, and whose members were responsible for the murders.

Mississippi Civil Rights Workers (Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner) Murders FBI Files & LBJ Phone Calls

Mississippi Civil Rights Workers (Chaney, Goodman, And Schwerner) Murders (MIBURN) FBI Files & President Johnson Telephone Audio Recordings

1,168 pages of FBI files and four hours and forty-three minutes of President Lyndon B. Johnson White House phone conversation audio recordings related to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, also known as the Freedom Summer murders, the Mississippi civil rights workers’ murders or the Mississippi Burning murders.

Mississippi was the center of the civil rights effort in 1964 known was the Freedom Summer. The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a coalition of civil rights groups, arranged voter registration drives, and orientation for its registrars had begun in mid-June.

In 1964 members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were on the look-out for a 24-year-old New Yorker named Michael Schwerner. He’d been especially active in organizing local boycotts of biased businesses and helping with voter registration. On June 16, acting on a tip, a mob of armed KKK members descended on a church meeting at Mount Zion Church in Neshoba County looking for him. Schwerner wasn’t there, so they torched the church and beat the churchgoers.

James Chaney and Andrew Goodman headed south to investigate the fire. The next afternoon, they interviewed several witnesses and went to meet with fellow activists.

After driving into Philadelphia, Mississippi, the three civil rights workers were arrested by Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, allegedly for speeding. At 10:30 p.m., June 21: Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were released and drove off in the direction of Meridian in a blue station wagon. By rearraigned plan, KKK members followed. The activists were never heard from again.

The FBI received a tip about a burning station wagon seen in the woods off Highway 21, about 13 miles northeast of Philadelphia, it was the men’s vehicle.

On August 4. acting on an informant tip, the FBI exhumed all three bodies 14 feet below an earthen dam on a local farm.

On December 4 more than a dozen suspects, including Deputy Price and his boss Sheriff Rainey, were indicted and arrested.

On October 20, 1967, following years of court battles, seven of the 18 defendants were found guilty, including Deputy Sheriff Price, but none on murder charges. One major conspirator, Edgar Ray Killen, went free after a lone juror couldn’t bring herself to convict a Baptist preacher. On June 21, 2005, Killen was convicted of manslaughter.
 

FBI Files

MIBURN

948 pages of files copied from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., covering the investigation of the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. Includes correspondence, memorandums, and reports of the investigation of the murders of Michael Henry Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The FBI code name for the case was MIBURN (Mississippi Burning).

Sam Bowers FBI Files

216 pages of FBI files from the mid 1960’s covering Sam Holloway Bowers and the KKK’s general activity in Mississippi.

Bowers in response to the civil rights movement co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and became a Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard. Bowers committed murders of civil rights activists in southern Mississippi: The 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner near Philadelphia, for which he served six years in federal prison; and the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, for which he was sentenced to life in prison 32 years after the crime. He died in prison at the age of 82.

President Lyndon B. Johnson Secret White House Telephone Calls Audio Recordings

Four hours and forty-two minutes of secret recordings of LBJ telephone calls related to the murders. President Johnson secretly recorded many of his telephone conversations throughout his administration. Participants in the calls include J. Edgar Hoover, Robert Kennedy, Lee White, James Eastland and others.

Additional material Includes:

Department of Justice 2016 Report

A June 2016 report titled, “U.S. Department of Justice Report to the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi Investigation of the 1964 Murders of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman. “         

The DOJ report of their investigation into the June 21, 1964 murders. The investigation and this report were authorized by the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.