Meridian Freedom Project to honor civil rights heroes

Jun. 20—The Meridian Freedom Project will honor the lives of slain civil rights heroes James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner on Tuesday to commemorate the 58th anniversary of their deaths near Philadelphia.

Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were volunteers in the Freedom Summer initiative to register African Americans to vote in Mississippi.

The three activists were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County on June 21, 1964 after they traveled from Meridian to the Longdale community near Philadelphia to meet with members of Mt. Zion Church, which had been burned down.

On Tuesday, MFP's Freedom Fellows will build a makeshift memorial and hold a vigil at the corner of 5th Street and 25th Avenue beginning at 12:30 p.m.

MFP Director of Literacy Terrence Roberts said this will be the second year MFP commemorates the anniversary of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner's deaths.

Remembering their sacrifice, he said, is good for both the teens in MFP's Freedom Fellow program and for the community.

"It is very important that our Freedom Fellows and our community remember these men," he said. "Their deaths turned the attention of the world to Mississippi and Freedom Summer. America could no longer hide from the injustices taking place in our state."

MFP Executive Director Adrian Cross said the public is invited and encouraged to join in the vigil.

"We will sing freedom songs and leave posters, cards and other items for the slain civil rights workers," she said. It is important to remind ourselves that our freedoms are not free; they come at a cost. For these brave men, that cost was their lives."

For more information about the vigil, contact Roberts at troberts.mfp@gmail.com or call 601-480-1244.