SOUTHWEST TRIBUNE

On this day June 21, Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney were abducted and murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in June of 1964.

The three men efforts to register Black Americans to vote, was to weaken southern laws and customs of Jim Crow, an ethnic discrimination against people of color by legal enforcement or traditional sanctions.

The men were members of the 'Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),' a civil rights organization that works to bring about equality for all people regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background. And were last seen speaking to a patrolman from the Mississippi Sheriff Department, after being pulled over for speeding.

Many of the men that staffed the Mississippi Sheriff and Troopers departments in 1964 were known clansmen.

*[All three men] were ticketed for speeding and taken to jail.

Their bodies were found three days later by federal investigators in a burnt-out car (station wagon) near a swamp.

The station wagon was bought by money donated to CORE by Lorraine Hansberry, an African-American playwright and writer. Hansberry was the first black female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago.

The murder of the three activists sparked national outrage and generated an outcry that played a pivotal role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that prohibits discrimination in voting.

In 1967, the federal government charged 18 individuals with civil rights violations. However, 'only' seven were convicted and received misdemeanor sentences.

In 2005, forty-years later, 'one' out of the 18 individuals were charged with manslaughter and the case was closed.

2018 Election Dates

JUNE Tuesday the 26th - Federal Primary
Noon-9pm for registered Democrats

SEPTEMBER THURSDAY the 13th - State/Local Primary
*held based on the number of petitions filed* Noon-9pm

NOVEMBER Tuesday the 6th - General
6am-9pm for all registered voters