But the lack of infrastructure also meant that, for years, Jewel wasnt paid for her time, beyond voluntary donations. There was a period where I felt like I hated mankind, he says. They said they were going to put dynamite under my house, she said, and blow us to bits.. Chaney was a native of Meridian and the eldest son in a family of five children. He got his chance and paid dearly for it. According to a confession later made by one of the Klansmen, his partners pulled Schwerner from the car and shot him first, then Goodman. (Nate Palmer for The Atlantic) . She learned to love him and follow in his footsteps JACKSON, Miss. May 24, 2007. 8: Son: Billy Chaney. I wanted to vent my hatred and my anger on white folks. The McDonalds first lived in Syracuse, New York, and then Cleveland, places where they had some family. That was the first time most people would see Ben, the younger brother of James Earl Chaney, one of three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. "I remember my grandmother told me she used to make his lunch for him to take to school, but he would stop and eat it on the way," she says, laughing. "I tell them, 'You can be great. She gleaned what information she could about her father from history books. Id lived in town for years, but Id never taken his tour. But despite this and another confession, no Southern jury would ever convict anyone for the actual murder of Chaney or his colleagues. James Earl Chaney's siblings forced to flee home after his murder, Brother of slain activist says he hated white people, No one has ever been convicted in the murder of the civil rights workers, Chaney's daughter talks about dad she never knew. Now my stepfather is one of a handful of Black folks around town who give informal tours of Philadelphias civil-rights history. According to FBI documents, Deputy Sheriff Cecil Ray Price, a Klansman, spotted their station wagon while he was driving in the opposite direction; he turned around and began following it. She still talks regularly with her uncle and aunts, probing for more details about the man she never knew, she said. From what I heard, he still referred to us as niggers., Angela says she doesnt hate the men who murdered her father. Yet people from all over have managed to reach themObbie estimates that hes given more than 100 tours. She was fired from her job and could not find other work. Any time she gets near the cemetery where her father is buried, a quiet spirit overwhelms her soul, she said. But he persisted because there was this tremendous frustration building up among blacks in Mississippi by the early 1960s. A bedtime story told with his voice, his inflections. Cheney, the No. June 28, 2021 / 7:52 AM The cause of death was T.B. The Life of Chaney. JeanAnne "Jeannie" D. Chaney, who earned her bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Purdue in 1961, and her husband, James B. Chaney, made the donation through the Chaney Family Foundation. Delivered by FeedBurner. But when it's all over, no matter how it turns out, I think I'm going to understand my father a little better, add another piece of flesh to this man who is still forming in my mind. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Years later, when she finally sat down with her grandmother, "I was able to get a whole wealth of information," she said. '", Next post: More Good Coverage Of The Edgar Ray Killen Trial, Previous post: Ten Living Suspects In The Neshoba Murders Case, Folks Ive got them hungry blues He even organized one demonstration in New York that ended in a riot. One man, Bud Cole, suffered a beating so brutal that he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. His mother, a domestic servant, was protective; his father, a plasterer, left his mother when James was in his mid-teens. Their popularity is understandable in a town where official sources, such as the local museum, are still reluctant to tell the story. Moore told me that hes often the middleman connecting visitors who call ahead with guides like Obbie. Ben was one of 25 black students in a student body of about 800. I sat at the kitchen counter as he washed dishes. He was described as shy in public, but a cutup in his home. (1957-01-23) (aged 24) Tyler-Goodwyn Bridge. The man who shot Chaney complained that he hadnt gotten to kill one of the white men: You didnt leave anything but a nigger. Then the Klansmen loaded the bodies back into the station wagon and drove away. June 12, 2005 (Page 2) As the federal government launched a massive 44-day manhunt, Rita Schwerner, Michaels widow, said that the reason the widespread search was happening at all was because two of the three men were white. . I had heard there was nothing in the museum about Mount Zion or the three civil-rights workers, and wanted to see for myself. All that was ever found of him were a pair of shoes, his shirt and a watch, she told The Courier Post. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A hug. Only the state government could have brought murder charges, and Mississippi had not pursued the case. Kanye West and Chaney Jones have been spotted out together recently. Klansmen returned later that night and set fire to Mount Zion, burning it down completely. He was a lifelong resident of Warren County where he served as Chancery Clerk from 1976-1984,. Well be back later.. For me to live in hate would be to carry on the very thing that took him out of the world., Ben says he has changed, too. We turned down Road 747, where a white sign at the highway intersection advertises Mount Zion, just about two or so miles down this country road. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 2 daughters. James Earl Chaney joined in. Christine Guido '20 Sarah spoke about her experience attending the inaugural Civil Rights Pilgrimagelast spring. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison, where he remains. Lon Chaney, Jr. A federal trial in 1967 resulted in seven convictions, eight not-guilty verdicts, and three mistrials. Chaney, who coached the Lightning from 2015 until his resignation on Dec. 12, will reunite with former North Fort. He claimed that Price had arrested and released the three civil rights workers that night, knowing that a mob was waiting to ambush them on a rural road. . While they were locked up, Price called Edgar Ray Killen, a local preacher and Klansman, to alert him to the young mens capture. For those wishing to attend the service . Before her husband left her, Mrs. Chaney recalled, he had been concerned for his sons safety. Obbie said he wonders what the trios conversation must have been, what they must have said to one another once they realized they were being pursued. We stay away from issues that would be controversial, he said. When Cleo popped into the kitchen, he told me that it was always in the plan to return. "It was like going to funerals and listening to the eulogies. "I'm told there were 21 men involved, eight are still living, and this one man is going on trial. Obbie is of the opinion that if something needs to get done, especially something as important as ensuring that the legacy of your community and family doesnt get erased, youd better first employ yourself to do something about it. ', "I would like some closure for her. Two white boys were killed, so they did something about the killing of my child who was with them., Jamess sister Barbara Dailey told The Courier Post of Cherry Hill, N.J., in 2005 that her mother had at first not understood the civil rights movement. The views expressed on this site are mine, and those of my guest authors, and do not represent, More Good Coverage Of The Edgar Ray Killen Trial, Ten Living Suspects In The Neshoba Murders Case, Some still remember the day Mississippi was nuked, Richard Joe Butler: Shot by Klansmen and Still Standing. He was the first born son to Ben Chaney Sr. and Fannie Lee. A private autopsy performed later indicated that the Klansmen had beaten Chaney severely before they killed him. On September 28, 1922, Cagney married dancer Frances Willard "Billie" Vernon, with whom he remained for the rest of his life. I never saw him yell or raise his voice, Sullivan says. Jewel thought she might never come back to Mississippi. It wasnt until early that day at the burial that I realized that, hey, this was final, he says. 2023 Cable News Network. Special thanks to Rohan Brown and Meagan T. for Like many people, he thought a black revolution was imminent and he wanted to participate. He was also leading the effort to turn Mount Zion into a Freedom Schoola center to help the surrounding community combat voter-suppression tactics. The remarks didnt directly name whom the state might charge with murder, but everyone knew they referred to Killen. Mark J. Chaney, Sr., 90, of Bovina, Mississippi, passed away July 8, 2022, at St. Dominic Hospital. A hug. He finally rested his head on the right shoulder of his mother, Fannie Lee. Places like Mount ZionBlack churches in Black communitieswere the only spaces where the activists could hope to have any safety. December 5, 2020 . Billy Tom Chaney, 87, of Victoria, passed away on Thursday, October 29, 2020 in Port Lavaca. Her husband, also named Ben, was a plasterer. Fannie Lee Chaney, a $28-a-week bakery worker who became a target of racial hatred herself after her son James Chaney and two other civil rights workers were killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964, died on Tuesday in Willingboro, N.J. She was 84. That led to the June 2005 conviction of Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader and Baptist minister, on manslaughter charges. She hopes youth will soon rise up just as they did during her father's time. In June 2005, Killen was finally prosecuted by the state of Mississippi. I understand that history is not just forgottenrather, it is destroyed by the same violence that claimed Mount Zion. He was a chubby guy who loved baseball and nicknamed James the bear and Ben the cub. The one thing I remember about Schwerner is that if you were in a room with him and he was talking and you didnt know he was white, you would swear he was black, Ben says. The violence stuck with him. A report from the Associated Press said Mount Zion was one of four Negro churches scorched in Mississippi within a 10-day period. He had driven at high speeds with no lights on, running from Cecil Price on back dirt roads. Obbie showed me the 200-year-old post-oak trees that he said mark where sharecroppers like his parents lived in tenant houses, and the woodsy, overgrown area where, he told me, formerly enslaved people are buried, their markers missing or mossy and tilted. From this point, the details diverge depending on whose version of events you hear. They later became the subject of the movie "Mississippi Burning.". One day last fall, I finally succeeded at getting insidethe hours of operation are a mere suggestion. Ben became an activist like his brother. He has personally reviewed the 2,900 pages of transcripts from the trial and even the autopsy photographs (he says his brother was beaten so badly before he was shot to death that it looked as if he had been in an airplane crash). Dr. James Chaney, MD, is an Obstetrics & Gynecology specialist practicing in Amory, MS with 38 years of experience. We pulled out of the long gravel driveway and drove into history. He was born in Burnet, Texas to the late Tom Lafayette and Florence King Chaney on October 7, 1933. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. Word about Mount Zions destruction traveled to a Freedom Summer training Schwerner was helping conduct at Western College for Women, in Ohio (now Miami University). He stayed there for five years but admitted he was an indifferent student. His chance and paid dearly for it voter-suppression tactics death was T.B Burnet, Texas to the late Lafayette... 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