This Day in History – August 4, 1964 – The Bodies of Three Slain Civil Rights Workers Found in Mississippi!
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner(top to bottom)
On the night of June 21-22 in 1964 three American civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner were shot at close range and killed. The workers had been working on the “Freedom Summer” campaign, attempting to register African-Americans to vote. On today’s date August 4th, their bodies were found in an earthen dam near the murder site.
While I was only 13 when it happened, and that summer I was more interested in the Phillies pennant race collapse, I do remember the national outrage over the shootings and the FBI being sent in to investigate. The FBI investigation was known as Mississippi Burning (MIBURN)