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James Earl "J.E." Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was one of three American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 civil rights
Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on sexism, religious intolerance, Racism, Homophobia, etc; individual freedom of freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom...
 workers who was murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
ed during Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer was a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to voter registration as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi, which up to that time had almost totally excluded black voters....
 by members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan is the name of several past and present secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes....
 near Philadelphia, Mississippi
Philadelphia, Mississippi

Philadelphia is the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, Mississippi, United States. With a population of 7,303 at the 2000 census, Philadelphia is most noted for the racial violence, murders, and other civil rights violations that occurred in the mid 1960s....
.
US government charged ten men with conspiracy to deprive the men of their civil rights under the Force Act of 1870.






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Jameschaney


James Earl "J.E." Chaney (May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was one of three American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 civil rights
Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on sexism, religious intolerance, Racism, Homophobia, etc; individual freedom of freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom...
 workers who was murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
ed during Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer was a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to voter registration as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi, which up to that time had almost totally excluded black voters....
 by members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan is the name of several past and present secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes....
 near Philadelphia, Mississippi
Philadelphia, Mississippi

Philadelphia is the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, Mississippi, United States. With a population of 7,303 at the 2000 census, Philadelphia is most noted for the racial violence, murders, and other civil rights violations that occurred in the mid 1960s....
.

First Trial

The US government charged ten men with conspiracy to deprive the men of their civil rights under the Force Act of 1870. Seven men were convicted, including Deputy Sheriff Price, and three were acquitted.

Reinvestigation of murders

Journalist Jerry Mitchell, an award-winning investigative reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, had written extensively about the case for many years. Mitchell had earned renown for helping secure convictions in several other high profile Civil Rights Era murder cases, including the assassination of Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American African-American Civil Rights Movement activism from Mississippi who was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the Ku Klux Klan....
, the Birmingham church bombings and the murder of Vernon Dahmer
Vernon Dahmer

Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. was an American civil rights leader and president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi....
. He developed new evidence about the civil rights murders, found new witnesses, and pressured the State to take action.

Barry Bradford, an Illinois high school teacher, and three students, Allison Nichols, Sarah Siegel, and Brittany Saltiel, joined Mitchell's efforts. They created a documentary about their work. Their documentary, produced for the National History Day contest, presented important new evidence and compelling reasons for reopening the case. They also obtained an interview with Edgar Ray Killen
Edgar Ray Killen

Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen is a former Ku Klux Klan organizer who Mississippi civil rights workers murders three American Civil Rights Movement activists in 1964....
, which helped convince the State to reinvestigate.

In addition, Mitchell determined the identity of "Mr. X", the mystery informer who had helped the FBI discover the bodies and smash the conspiracy of the Klan in 1964. In part Mitchell used evidence developed by Bradford and his students.

When the trial opened on January 7 2005, Edgar Ray Killen
Edgar Ray Killen

Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen is a former Ku Klux Klan organizer who Mississippi civil rights workers murders three American Civil Rights Movement activists in 1964....
, once an outspoken white supremacist nicknamed the "Preacher," pleaded "Not Guilty" to Chaney's murder. Fannie Lee Chaney
Fannie Lee Chaney

Fannie Lee Chaney was an United States baker turned civil rights activist after her son James Chaney was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan during the 1964 Freedom Summer rides in Mississippi....
 and Carolyn Goodman
Carolyn Goodman

Dr. Carolyn Elizabeth Drucker Goodman was a clinical psychologist who became a prominent civil rights advocate after her son, Andrew Goodman and two other civil rights workers were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi in 1964....
, mothers of two of the civil rights workers, were the last witnesses for the prosecution. The jury found Killen guilty of manslaughter
Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder.The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind....
 on June 20, 2005, and he was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Popular culture

  • Meridian
    Meridian

    Meridian, or a meridian line may refer to:...
     1976, a novel by Alice Walker
    Alice Walker

    Alice Malsenior Walker is an United States author, self-declared feminist and womanist?the latter a term she herself coined to make special distinction for the experiences of women of color....
    , dealt with issues of the civil rights era.


  • The 1988 film, Mississippi Burning
    Mississippi Burning

    Mississippi Burning is a 1988 crime drama film based on the FBI investigation into the real-life Mississippi civil rights workers murders in the U.S....
    , was loosely based upon these events.


  • The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the activists were the subject of the 1990 TV movie Murder in Mississippi
    Murder in Mississippi

    Murder in Mississippi was a 1990 television movie which dramatized the last weeks of civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, and the events leading up to their disappearance and subsequent murder in the Freedom Summer....
    , which featured Blair Underwood
    Blair Underwood

    'Blair Underwood' is an United States television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A....
     as James Chaney.


  • In the Season 13
    List of Law & Order episodes (season 13)

    The following is a list of Law & Order episodes from the series' thirteenth season :...
     episode of the series Law & Order
    Law & Order

    Law & Order is an United States police procedural and legal drama Television program created by Dick Wolf. It has been broadcast on NBC since its debut on September 13, 1990....
     entitled "Chosen," defense lawyer Randy Dworkin (played by Peter Jacobson
    Peter Jacobson

    Peter D. Jacobson is an United States film and television actor.Jacobson was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Chicago news anchor Walter Jacobson....
    ) prefaces a speech against affirmative action
    Affirmative action

    The term affirmative action refers to policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in an attempt to promote equal opportunity. The focus of such policies ranges from employment and public contracting to educational outreach and health programs ....
     with the phrase, "Janeane Garofalo
    Janeane Garofalo

    Jane Anne "Janeane" Garofalo is an United States stand-up comedian, actor, political activism, writer, and former co-host on Air America Radio's The Majority Report....
     herself can storm into my office and tear down the framed photos of Goodman
    Andrew Goodman

    Andrew Goodman was one of three United States American Civil Rights Movement activists who were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan....
    , Chaney
    James Chaney

    James Earl "J.E." Chaney was one of three United States civil rights workers who was murdered during Freedom Summer by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi....
     and Schwerner
    Michael Schwerner

    Michael Henry Schwerner , was one of three Congress of Racial Equality field workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to their civil rights work, which included promoting registration to vote among Mississippi African Americans....
    , that I keep on the wall over my desk..."


  • Mentioned in the band, Flobots, song "Same Thing", the song asks to bring back Chaney.


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