An important turning point in the American Civil Rights Movement occurred in 1964 with the case of the Mississippi Burning, commonly known as the Freedom Summer Murders. Violence against African Americans and civil rights workers in the Deep South received widespread attention after the disappearance and death of three activists in Neshoba County, Mississippi: James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.

Hundreds of civil rights activists went to Mississippi in 1964 to protest segregation and register black voters. After looking into the arson of a church supporting civil rights for African Americans on June 21, 1964, the three activists vanished. Weeks later, their bodies were unearthed from an earthen dam.

The case heightened the need for civil rights legislation and provoked widespread outrage. After a thorough investigation by the FBI, numerous members of the Ku Klux Klan were arrested and tried for their roles in the murders. At first, state officials declined to bring charges, exposing the role of local law enforcement in fostering racial violence.

The events surrounding the Mississippi Burning case, the bravery of civil rights activists, and the ongoing fight for racial justice are all explored in depth in a book about the case. Race relations, the obstacles the civil rights movement encountered, and the federal government’s role in addressing systematic racism are all dissected. The events depicted in Mississippi Burning are a sobering reminder of the need to continue the battle for civil rights and address America’s troubled past with racism.