Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine

‘Mississippi Burning’ Civil Rights Case Closed After 52 Years

Community, Crime ... Posted by: KOLUMN Magazine Staff

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‘Mississippi Burning’ Civil Rights Case Closed After 52 Years

[two_third padding=”0 15px 0 0px”]‘Mississippi Burning’ Civil Rights Case Closed After 52 Years

Attorney general says investigation into killings of three civil rights workers is over and no more prosecutions are expected.

ASSOCIATED PRESS   |     THE GUARDIAN  

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“It was about all of the lives.”

[/one_third_last][two_third padding=”0 15px 0 0px”][dropcap]One[/dropcap] day short of the 52nd anniversary of the disappearance of three civil rights workers during Mississippi’s “Freedom Summer,” state and federal prosecutors have said that the investigation into the killings is over.

The decision “closes a chapter” in the state’s divisive civil rights history, Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood said.
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Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Original Caption: 8/24/1964-Atlantic City, NJ: Dr. Martin Luther King, with portraits of slain Mississippi civil rights workers at his back, speaks to members of CORE and SNCC outside of Convention Hall.
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Civil rights activists protest the murders of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. Image credit Bob Adelman/Corbis
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Young Ben Chaney as He Rides to the Funeral of His Brother James Chaney, Mississippi, 1964 © Time
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine
Bill Eppridge: Mrs. Chaney and young Ben, James Chaney funeral, Meridian, Mississippi, 1964
Mississippi Burning, Freedom Summer, Michael Schwerner, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, KOLUMN Magazine

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JAMES CHANEY
SOCIAL REFORMER – (1943–1964)
James Chaney was one of three civil rights workers killed in Mississippi in 1964. This tragedy inspired the 1988 film ‘Mississippi Burning.’
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MICHAEL SCHWERNER
SOCIAL REFORMER – (1939–1964)
Civil Rights worker Michael Schwerner, along with James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, were killed because of their activism during Mississippi’s Freedom Summer in 1964. Their murders helped to galvanize the Civil Rights Movement and support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
MORE | BIO.


ANDREW GOODMAN
SOCIAL ACTIVIST – (1943–1964)
Andrew Goodman was one of the three civil rights workers slain in Mississippi in June 1964.
MORE | BIO.


“The evidence has been degraded by memory over time, and so there are no individuals that are living now that we can make a case on at this point,” Hood said.

He said, however, that if new information comes forward because of the announcement that the case is closed, prosecutors could reconsider and pursue a case.

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