Title: Murder in Mississippi
First published: 2004
Description: Few episodes in the modern civil rights movement were more galvanizing or more memorialized than the brutal murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney--idealists eager to protect and promote the rights of black Americans, even in the deep and very dangerous South. In films like Mississippi Burning and popular folk songs, these young men have been venerated as martyrs. Even so, the landmark legal dimensions of their murder case have until now remained largely lost. Howard Ball reminds us just how problematic the prosecution of the murderers--all members of the KKK--actually was. When the State of Mississippi failed to indict them, the U.S. tried to prosecute the case in federal district court. The judge there, however, ruled that the federal government had no jurisdiction. When the U.S. appealed, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court decision, claiming that federal authorities did indeed have the power to police civil rights violations in any state. United States v. Price (1967) thus produced a landmark decision that signaled a seismic shift in American legal history and race relations, for it meant that local authorities could no longer shield racist lawbreakers. Ball weaves the tales of victims and perpetrators into a single compelling story in which the legal process becomes as much personal as political.--From publisher description.
Subjects: History, Murder, Trials (Murder), Crimes against, Civil rights workers, Goodman, andrew, 1943-1964, Chaney, james earl, 1943-1964, Schwerner, michael henry, 1939-1964, Murder, mississippi, Mississippi, history
Places: Mississippi, Neshoba County
People: James Earl Chaney (1943-1964), Michael Henry Schwerner (1939-1964), Andrew Goodman (1943-1964)
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: KF224.M47 B35 2004