Murder in Mississippi | American Experience | PBS

On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, disappeared after being released from a Mississippi jail. They were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan soon after having been released. An excerpt from the article:

"On June 21, 1964, three young men disappeared near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Michael (Mickey) Schwerner and James Chaney worked for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in nearby Meridian; Andrew Goodman was one of the hundreds of college students from across the country who volunteered to work on voter registration, education, and Civil Rights as part of the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. The three men believed their work was necessary, but also dangerous: Ku Klux Klan membership in Mississippi was soaring in 1964 -- with membership reaching more than 10,000. The Klan was prepared to use violence to fight the Civil Rights movement; on April 24 the group offered a demonstration of its power, staging 61 simultaneous cross burnings throughout the state."