On this day in 1943, civil rights activist James Chaney was born

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The FBI on June 29, 1964, began distributing this picture of civil rights worker James E. Chaney, who disappeared near Philadelphia, Miss., June 21, 1964. Chaney and two other civil rights workers were abducted and killed June 21 and buried in an earthen dam in rural Neshoba County. (AP Photo/FBI)
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On May 30, 1943, civil rights activist James Chaney was born in Meridian, Mississippi. Tragically, his life was cut short in June 1964, at the age of 21, when he and two other activists were murdered by Ku Klux Klansmen near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Their bodies were discovered in a ditch after 44 days. A federal investigation followed, and in 1967, seven of the 10 suspects were convicted under conspiracy charges.

In this 1964 file photo released by the FBI, the bodies of three civil rights workers are uncovered from an earthen dam southwest of Philadelphia, Miss. The photograph was entered as evidence by the prosecution in the trial of Edgar Ray Killen, who was convicted in 2005 for three counts of manslaughter in the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. (AP Photo/FBI, File)

However, in the years that followed, activists continued to call on authorities to investigate further, citing new evidence and interviews to implicate Edgar Ray Killen, a man acquitted in the first trial.

On June 20, 2005, Killen was found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He died in 2018.


Click play to listen to the AURN News report from Clay Cane. Follow @claycane & @aurnonline for more.

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