PHILADELPHIA — 1964 · Murder
The "Mississippi Burning" Murders
On 21 June 1964 three civil rights workers with the Freedom Summer voter-registration campaign - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner - disappeared in Neshoba County, Mississippi, while looking into the burning of a Black church. After a brief detention and release they were ambushed and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. The FBI investigation, code-named MIBURN, led to their bodies being found in an earthen dam on 4 August 1964. In 1967 seven men were convicted in federal court of civil rights violations. The case was reopened and in 2005 Klan organiser Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter on the 41st anniversary of the killings.
- Date
- 1964
- Place
- Mississippi, USA, Philadelphia, US
- Category
- Murder
- Case Status
- Solved
- Coordinates
- 32.7700, -89.1200 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 21 June 1964Three activists vanish in Neshoba County.
- 4 August 1964Their bodies are found in an earthen dam.
- October 1967Seven defendants convicted of civil rights violations in federal court.
- 21 June 2005Edgar Ray Killen convicted of manslaughter.
- January 2018Killen dies in prison.
Sources
- FBI — Mississippi Burning fbi.gov ↗
- MDAH — Mississippi Burning case files open mdah.ms.gov ↗
- CNN — Klansman convicted in Mississippi Burning case dies cnn.com ↗
- FBI
- Mississippi Department of Archives and History
- CNN
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.