Katherine Lee

" This morning we left the Best Western in Jackson, Mississippi to take an adventure over to Philadelphia, MS. While in Montgomery, we (Robyn, Allie, Marissa, Marcie, and I) had been given an assignment to find out who James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were. They were three men who had been doing work for the Freedom Summer Project, a program designed to help African-Americans register to vote.

To go into more detail, James Chaney was a 21 year old black man, who served as Schwerner’s chief aid. He was born in Meridian and raised by his mother, a domestic servant, after his father left them. Andrew Goodman was a new trainee to the Freedom Summer Project. He was 20 years old when he was killed by the KKK. That fateful day was his first full day in Mississippi, hours and hours away from his liberal home on the upper Westside of Manhattan. Michael Schwerner had recruited these two men to go down to Philadelphia with him. He was Jewish, who the Klan clan called Jew-boy or Goatee, and was greatly despised as a civil rights worker in Neshoba County. He was also the first civil rights worker based outside of Jackson. Hated by the Klan for his organization of a black boycott against white businesses, Schwerner was on the Klan’s death list.

On June 16th, 1964, the Klan waited at a Memorial Day meeting outside of Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Longdale, MS, thinking that Schwerner would be in attendance. To their dismay, none of the 30 people (8 black) there was Schwerner, so the Klan burnt down the Mount Zion United Methodist Church.

On June 20th the three men arrived into town driving a Ford station wagon early that morning down to Meridian. Longdale, a town known to be high risk area for civil rights workers, was where they were stopped and arrested by Deputy Cecil Price for suspicion in relation to the church burning. Schwerner had been denied his one phone call from jail, and at 5:20pm, someone called the jail inquiring about the three men. Minnie Perry answered the call and lied about their whereabouts. At 10pm, Price let them go after Chaney paid to get them out. The three of them fell into a trap. Schwerner had been captured so that the Klan could meet. While driving down Hwy 19, Price and the Klan members both chased after the car with the 3 men. It was a high speed chase and then Chaney stopped the car and the 3 surrendered. Price took them in his car and they drove down a dark dirt road where Wayne Roberts, the gunman, shot all 3 men. The bodies were taken to a dam site acre Old Jolly Farm owned by Olin Burge who belonged to the Klan After thorough investigation by Proctor, an FBI agent from Alabama, a trial finally took place. The men involved were charged, but after only serving 4 years in prison Price got to return to his family in Philadelphia, Roberts and Bowers got 10 years, and Posey and another got 5 years.

So as we drove from Jackson to Philadelphia in search for the church that had been burnt down, we gave reports on our assignments and finished watching the intense movie, Mississippi Burning, starring Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman about the FBI investigation of the murders.

While driving, we saw more of what is known as the black belt of Mississippi. Farmland went on for miles and miles along side the highways, with small homes scattered here and there along the way, some nicer than others, but always modest. It’s depressing and heart wrenching to see that people in the US still live in such conditions. If nothing else, seeing the lifestyles of people living in the black belt, makes me rethink about my lifestyle and how so many of us create so much waste, taking advantage of what we can buy.

The search for the church took more time than we had anticipated. We circled around Philadelphia a few times in search for the church and asked some local people for directions. It was great seeing how excited and curious people were to see such a large bus driving through their neighborhoods. We were the biggest thing that the town has seen for quite some time. After trying and trying, we finally found the right side road along a narrow “highway” that had a few run down homes along the on either side. We all cheered as we pulled up to church. I was especially excited about our discovery because of the research we had put into learning about the 3 men who were killed, the actual burning of the church, and the search for the exact address of the church.

As we all walked around the church and took pictures, the treasurer of Mount Zion United Methodist, John Cole, happened to drive by and showed us some of that southern hospitality, offering us water and answered our questions, and even unlocked the church so that we could see more. We were so fortunate to have met Mr. Cole who was on the committee that rebuilt the church in 1971. He told us that his grandfather, Threefoot Cole, had owned the land on which the church was built. It never ceases to amaze me to hear personal accounts of people’s experiences that have helped to shape the course of history. Feeling a great sense of accomplishment after successfully locating this historic landmark, we then proceeded in our journey and made it to Hattiesburg, where we were greeted by Professor Conville from the University of Southern Mississippi, who took us on a tour of Hattiesburg, introducing us to great people of the community, such as Mrs. Connor and others. Their stories were nothing but interesting to hear, and always amazing to believe that they had such strength and courage to stand up for what they believed in against all of the negative forces working against them. I learned so much from them about local churches and the lack of support for the Civil Rights Movement. I also had never known anything about local political groups, such as the Freedom Democratic Party, that had taken a bus ride up to the Democratic Convention to fight for seats in the party.

Dr. Conville had us walk the same route that picketers had taken around a government building 40 years ago and he also took us downtown on Mobile Street to a local restaurant/bar, Do’s, to look at the work of Evan (a student of USM). Evan had spent a few months down on Mobile Street sketching a map of what Mobile Street used to be and getting to know the people and culture of the area. From the descriptions he shared with us of the map, there seemed to have been a great culture and community down on Mobile Street. Regardless of the fact that some of the buildings have been torn down, the street itself seems to tell a story."

Lisa Mann

" I have noticed a difference between Mississippi and Alabama. In Alabama not much has changed. The housing projects still have the same racial breakdown as before the civil rights movement. But in Mississippi, the historically black neighborhoods that were once thriving are completely destroyed. I witnessed poverty and ruin. We were asked to come up with reasons for this change, but I have no clue really. Why would the black business owners shut down? Was it because now they could go to the better off white stores? Why wouldn’t the whites decide to frequent the black areas? This leads me to believe that Mississippi is far more racially segregated than any state I’ve been in so far.

For dinner some of us went to the Outback Steakhouse not far from the hotel (actually a very short walk). I began looking around the steakhouse and did not see one black person aside from the waitress who was working the crowd outside. It seems weird to me for there to be a large establishment in a bustling interstate area (I am assuming it’s an interstate area because there are three hotels crowded together and usually you only see that in larger cities or near interstates). Perhaps though, I am paranoid from watching Mississippi Burning. That is such a powerful movie. It’s hard for me to believe that such hatred exists in the world. I was talking with some other members of the group today and found that they felt as though this trip was slowly bringing them down. The debriefing had better be amazing because I am becoming very disheartened, and it is only day six! I am not the only one either.

Today we had an interview with a reporter on the bus after the tour. It was then that I realized that I’m not the only disappointed with my generation. We lack any sense of urgency. I don’t want to say that we’re lazy (although I know I can be quite often), but we feel as though either the problems in this nation will fix themselves or that it’s someone else’s job to fix them. And frankly, often I feel that way too. We don’t feel as though there is anything we can actually do to change things. It’s disturbing because we were raised by a generation who dove head first into beatings and murders to gain the rights that they believed themselves and others deserved. I’m afraid that I’ll get back to Wake and this trip won’t have made any difference aside from making me more knowledgeable—and what good does that do?

I’d like to close this entry with my answer to the question that Dr. Smith asked our class today. He asked us why was there such a struggle in the south? Why was it so difficult to get a people their “inalienable” rights? I remembered a quote from Yoda in one of the first Star Wars (I know you Star Wars obsessed people out there are going to be really annoyed with my paraphrase and lack of exact knowledge of the trilogy, but I guess you’ll just have to deal). The quote went something like this: “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side”—I think this is what happened in the south."

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