The murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner galvanized national support for civil rights legislation and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Key Facts
- Date of murders
- June 21, 1964
- Victims
- James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner
- Perpetrating group
- White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
- Federal investigation code name
- MIBURN (Mississippi Burning)
- Individuals charged federally (1967)
- 18 people
- Edgar Ray Killen sentence (2005)
- 60 years for three counts of manslaughter
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Since 1890, southern states had systematically disenfranchised Black voters through discriminatory registration practices. In 1964, Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were working with the Freedom Summer campaign to register African American voters in Mississippi, making them targets of white supremacist violence from local Klan members with ties to law enforcement.
On June 21, 1964, after being arrested for speeding and then released, the three activists were followed and abducted by members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, including affiliated local law enforcement officers, in Neshoba County, Mississippi. They were taken to a secluded location, shot and killed, and their bodies buried in an earthen dam.
The murders sparked national outrage and a major FBI investigation. The state of Mississippi refused to prosecute, so the federal government charged 18 individuals with civil rights violations in 1967, resulting in seven convictions. The killings helped build political momentum that contributed to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years.