Douglas O. Linders Reality of the Mississippi Burning Trial

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On December 29, after three long years, finally would be some justice served for the brutal killings of Micheal Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andre Goodman. All three men had yet to reach the age of twenty-five when they were murdered for being civil rights workers. The crime was performed in an “old-fashion lynching,” by numerous White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi (Linder). These members consisted of Neshoba County Sheriff, Lawrence Rainey, Cecil Price his deputy, and seventeen others. This crime was a tragedy that took place after the men were lied to, placed in jail for no reason, then released and lured to a dam site at the Old Jolly Farm. The location of the farm was revealed when a Klan member by the name of Olen Burrage, said “Hell, I’ve got a dam that’ll hold a hundred of them” at a meeting making reference that it was for blacks, Jews, and civil rights workers (Linder). This was the Klan’s second attempt to kill Micheal Schwerner, the first taking place on June 16, 1964 just five days earlier, when they burned down a church by the name of Mount Zion. They had reason to believe he would be there for Memorial Day, to conduct business with the black congregation. After the meeting was adjourned, seven black men and three black women ended up being beaten because the Klan’s attempt to find Schwerner was unsuccessful. Once Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman got news of this, they departed from Ohio in attempt to see what had happened at Mount Zion Church, which would ultimately lead to their deaths. This case is very important to our history and dissevered to be on the Lender site. The case describes a clear image of how things were during the early and mid 1900s and shows just how lucky we are that society has changed and people can now look pass one another’s race and color. Not only did this case become famous because of the racism, beatings,

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