James Chaney in Civil Rights Movement: "Black Power" Era
James Chaney (1943–1964) was an African-American volunteer in the "Freedom Summer" voter registration drives.
In August 1964, Chaney and two white volunteers, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were discovered murdered in Mississippi.
On June 21st, 1964, "Freedom Summer" volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner disappeared while registering voters in Mississippi. Two months later, their bodies were found in an earthen dam on a farm near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Several white men, including Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen, were suspected of murder. Only Killen was ultimately convicted, 41 years after the crimes were committed.