the rules of jim crow would not permit them from being buried next to each other. segregation even after death, segregation even in burial. so in death, james chaney was buried alone in mississippi. he was buried in a segregated cemetery. james chaney was buried high up on a hill on the outskirts of his hometown of meridian, mississippi. reports at the time said on their way to the memorial service for james chaney, the mourners passed through a gauntlet of local residents who came on the street to jeer at them and scream at them as they tried to go to his funeral. over the years we ve become a country in which no one is willing to say out loud they were one of the people jeering and screaming that day, right? those murders changes the country. because those murders changed the country, we ve come to see those three young men as american martyrs. martyrs for an end to racial law in our country. those three young men who were killed and all the hundreds of
goodman and schwerner, the two white men of the three, they were both shot in the chest, but mr. chaney, the black man from mississippi, they shot him in the head. not long before she died, the late maya angelou wrote a forward to a book, said the comrade of the three young men in death changed the way she saw the world. she never expected ever that white people would die for the sake of black people. she said, those three young men represent 300,000 young men and women who dared, who had the courage to go to the lion s den and try to scrub the lion s teeth. the families of the three men stayed together during the long search for them. and during the funerals that followed once their bodies were found. the widow of one of the two white men, the widow of michael schwerner, she asked that michael schwerner be buried alongside james chaney.
young volunteers had gone to investigate a church burning near the eastern mississippi town of philadelphia, but their car got a flat tire and they had to stop and the sheriff in philadelphia, mississippi, arrested them, took them into custody on the allegation of speeding. because they were taken into custody, that meant that everybody in town knew who they were and where they were and when they were there. and that, of course, meant that everybody in town knew how to find them. when the sheriff released those three men from the jail that night, they knew enough to be afraid and they raced for the safety of their home base which was about 45 miles away in the town of meridian, mississippi. they didn t make it those 45 miles to meridian, instead, they just disappeared. for weeks. no sign of them. investigators ultimately found their bodies six weeks later buried in an earthen dam at a place called the old jolly farm just outside philadelphia, the town where they d been pulled over.
those three young men as american martyrs. martyrs for an end to racial law in our country. those three young men who were killed and all the hundreds of thousands of americans who marched and worked and got thrown into jail and who gave their money and provided food or a place to sleep to all those volunteers, we have what is supposed to be a consensus as a country that the people on the side of civil rights, what they did in 1964, that was noble. in addition to being noble and right, it also worked. they won. the summer after james chaney and andrew goodman and michael schwerner were killed and bodies hid inside the earthen dam in mississippi, lyndon johnson signed the voting rights act into law. following summer. no more taxes, no more literacy tests or tricks designed to keep legal voters from actually being able to vote. johnson s signature on that law resulted directly from the sacrifices of people like those three civil rights workers who were killed in philadelphia,
for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any allergic reactions like rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about experiencing cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. okay. this is a test. but it is not merely a test. famously, in june 1964, college students from all around the country decided to spend the summer in the great state of mississippi. all over the country that year, young people who were involved in the fight for civil rights or who wanted to be involved in that fight, they decided to head