In 1964, the Klan killed three young activists and shocked the nation

June 22, 2024 10:47 AM

In 1964, the Klan killed three young activists and shocked the nation. A Mississippi town still grapples with that violent civil rights history. An oral history By Susan Levine, Photography by Michael S. Williamson for The Washington Post. Trigger warning for violence and racism. Long. Intense. Note: this is about the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
posted by bq (15 comments total)

(More about the Reagan connection.)
posted by box at 10:55 AM on June 22 [11 favorites]

Heather Cox Richardson posted about this event yesterday, too. I was aware of the basic story, but didn't remember this: "Killen walked free because in addition to being a Klan leader, he was also a Baptist minister, and a member of the jury would not convict a minister."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:59 AM on June 22 [11 favorites]

Mod note: One comment removed. Please keep the Guidelines in mind and "engage with what people are really saying", instead of glib comments.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 11:42 AM on June 22 [2 favorites]

Norman Rockwell: Murder in Mississippi
posted by TedW at 12:02 PM on June 22 [15 favorites]

I can't read the article, but I'm probably not the only one who first found out about this story from the movie Mississippi Burning, which is one of those movies that I'll stop and watch when flipping channels.
posted by rhizome at 12:09 PM on June 22 [3 favorites]

I know a relative of Andrew Goodman who grew up steeped in the cause of justice, became a lawyer and is fighting for everything good. As depressing as this story is, it's not all depressing.
posted by acrasis at 12:23 PM on June 22 [10 favorites]

I can't even read the WaPo article. I wrote about the case 10 years ago [1,000 word exec summ] when my affect was blunter. The case against Preacher Killen in 2005 was steadily built up by Jerry Mitchell, with help from Allison Nichols, Brittany Saltiel & Sarah Siegel high-school project students from Chicago [4m YT studio news report].
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:36 PM on June 22 [5 favorites]

The photo of Sheriff Rainey and Deputy Price laughing at their Federal trial can be seen in this essay by someone who lived there at the time. I seem to to remember it being made into a poster in the early 1970s captioned “Support your local sheriff” or something similar. Banality of evil, indeed.
posted by TedW at 12:40 PM on June 22 [9 favorites]

Pete Seeger wrote a song about this event.
posted by MtDewd at 1:15 PM on June 22 [4 favorites]

Robert Reich posted a video about this the other day. Michael Schwerner was a child hood friend of Reich's who looked out for him.
The video is immensely moving and he traces his later activism, in part, to hearing about his friend's murder.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 1:31 PM on June 22 [10 favorites]

John Oliver had a good line about Reagan recently. "Reagan did do some good things for the country. In 2004 - and this is true - he died."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:04 PM on June 22 [19 favorites]

Pete Seeger wrote a song about this event .

And possibly Paul Simon, though Google suggests this is a bit unclear.
posted by hoyland at 4:44 PM on June 22

I have an acquaintance that grew up in Philadelphia, Mississippi in the 1980s. I always wanted to ask her (she’s white BTW) if and what she heard about this is a kid. I didn’t know her that well, so I never asked.
posted by marxchivist at 8:58 PM on June 22

The grief.
I didn't know about those nine other victims of terror that were found by the FBI.
This is a good reminder that Trumpism didn't come out of nothing. And people who lionize Reagan are shit.
posted by mumimor at 10:38 PM on June 22 [6 favorites]

The murders of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman I remember all too well -- along with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. I was all of six years old when Emmett Till was murdered in Money, Mississippi in August of 1955. His mother insisted he lie on an open casket at his funeral. I will not link to sny photos of his mutilated face. That I heard about much later. I remember listening to the late great Studs Terkel interview his mother Mamie Till Bradley, which can be heard here when you scroll down past

Mamie Till Bradley, mother of Emmett Till, talks with author and radio host Studs Terkel about her son's murder and explains how she feels no hatred toward his killers.

He was beaten so savagely that his face was a bloody mutilated horror. I will not link to any picture of it. That interview was seared in my memory from when first I heard it. As it will be in yours if you listen. You can OK Boomer me all you want but you have no idea what a horror show the 50s and 60s were to live through, no idea at all.
posted by y2karl at 1:05 PM on June 24 [2 favorites]