-
mississippi summer project announced
Council of Federated Organizations, which is in charge of general civil rights in mississippi annouces the summer project in mississippi -
Michael Schwerner begins work with Chaney
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) civil rights workers Michael and Rita Schwerner arrive in Meridian, Mississippi and begin working with Meridian native and civil rights activist James Chaney and others. -
Period: to
Schwerner and Chaney make Trips to Neshoba
Between February and June, civil rights workers James Chaney and Michael Schwerner make over thirty trips to Neshoba County to meet with Cornelius Steele of the Longdale community and other local civil rights pioneers. -
Founding of KKK in Mississippi
Founding of white knights of the KKK in Brookhaven Mississippi -
Decision to Murder Michael Schwerner
Decision goes out from the KKK to murder Michael Schwerner, most likely because of his work with civil rights in Mississippi. -
Schwerner and Chaney Speak at Mt. Zion
James Chaney and Michael Schwerner speak at Mt. Zion Church in the Longdale community. The congregation agrees to host a freedom school. -
Trainging for summer project
Andrew Goodman and other Mississippi Summer Project volunteers attend training session in Oxford, Ohio. James Chaney and Michael Schwerner are also in attendance. -
Burning of Mt. Zion Church
Armed KKK members of the Lauderdale and Neshoba counties Klaverns assault leaders of Mt. Zion Church where a church business meeting is being held. The Klansmen think the meeting is a civil rights one and that Michael Schwerner might be there. Later that night Klan members return to Mt. Zion Church and burn it to the ground. -
Return from Training Session
James Chaney and Michael Schwerner accompanied by Andrew Goodman return to Meridian from the training session in Ohio. -
The Event
Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner drive to Longdale and the site of the burned church in Neshoba County. They are arrested by Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff and Klansman Cecil Ray Price. Taken to the Neshoba county jail, about 4:00 P.M. Denied their right to make phone calls. When Movement activists call the jail they are falsely informed they are not there, released at midnight. -
The Event Pt 2
While the civil rights workers are in jail, Klansmen from Lauderdale and Neshoba counties assemble in Philadelphia and wait for the three civil rights workers to be released from jail. After the release, Price, followed by the other Klansmen, stops the young men again after a high speed chase. The Klan lynch mob abducts the three civil rights workers to an isolated area where they are shot. Their bodies are buried in an earthen dam on the property of wealthy landowner and businessman Olen Burrag -
News is Released
COFO informs the press of their disappearance and across the country Movement supporters demand that the Federal government investigate. A spokesman for the Goodman family tells the press: "The murder of the boys was the first interracial lynching in the history of the United States." -
Period: to
The Search
The FBI tries to solve the case while Navy sailors search the swamps and rivers for the missing bodies. The number of FBI agents assigned to Mississippi is increased ten-fold, from 15 to 150, and for the first time an FBI office is established in the state. Three bodies of young Black men associated with the Freedom Movement are pulled from Mississippi rivers, as are the bodies of five other Black men who are never identified -
Found Dead Bodies
FBI finds dead bodies of the boys at a dam site -
Inicial Arrests Made
21 arrests are made by the FBI and 19 men are charged with conspiring to deprive the three boys of their consititual rights. -
Dissmissal of Charges
U. S. commisioner in the south dissmisses all charges of the men