Murder in Mississippi: United States v. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights / Edition 1

by Howard Ball

Overview

Few episodes in the modern civil rights movement were more galvanizing or more memorialized than the brutal murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney—idealists eager to protect and promote the rights of black Americans, even in the deep and very dangerous South. In films like Mississippi Burning and popular folk songs, these young men have been venerated as martyrs. Even so, the landmark legal dimensions of their murder case have until now remained largely lost.

Howard Ball reminds us just how problematic the prosecution of the murderers—all members of the KKK—actually was. When the State of Mississippi failed to indict them, the U.S. tried to prosecute the case in federal district court. The judge there, however, ruled that the federal government had no jurisdiction and so dismissed the case. When the U.S. appealed, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court decision, claiming that federal authorities did indeed have the power to police civil rights violations in any state. United States v. Price (1967) thus produced a landmark decision that signaled a seismic shift in American legal history and race relations, for it meant that local authorities could no longer shield racist lawbreakers.

Ball weaves the tales of victims and perpetrators into a single compelling story in which the legal process becomes as much personal as political. Readers will learn how deputy sheriff Cecil Price and his accomplices planned the execution of the young freedom riders and how prosecutors and judges brought them to justice under conspiracy charges. Along the way, Ball introduces readers to a host of characters from the heyday of the civil rights era—with the NAACP, CORE, and SNCC on one side, and the KKK and its fellow travelers on the other, and politicians sitting squarely on the fence.

Although to this day the murderers have never faced murder charges, United States v. Price emphatically declared that the federal government would no longer tolerate the complicity of local and state authorities in the suppression of the constitutional rights of southern blacks. As we approach the fortieth anniversary of the murders in June 2004, Murder in Mississippi provides a timely and telling reminder of the vigilance democracy requires if its ideals are to be fully realized.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700613168
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	04/16/2004
Series:	Landmark Law Cases and American Society
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Howard Ball, presently professor of law at Vermont Law School and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Vermont, is a veteran of the civil rights movement and for many years taught at Mississippi State University. He is the author of two dozen books including The Bakke Case: Race, Education, and Affirmative Action and A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America.

Table of Contents

Editors’ Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Driving on Highway 19 to Philadelphia, Mississippi

2. Genesis: Mississippi and the Struggle for Racial Equality

3. COFO’s “Mississippi Freedom Summer” Project: The Battle Line Is Drawn

4. Informants and Indictments

5. U.S. v. Price in the U.S. Supreme Court

6. The Trial in Federal District Court

7. Is There Justice in Mississippi?

Chronology

List of Relevant Cases

Bibliographical Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A crucial book for those interested in a detailed account of how and why the federal government became involved in the 1960s civil rights movement."—Journal of Southern History

"Ball offers a superb account of United States v. Price. . . . He tells this sad story with grace and quiet passion. The book reveals the fragility of law. Well written and accessible. Highly recommended. General audiences; lower-division undergraduates through researchers."—Choice

"Well worth reading for an understanding of a key decade in the history of civil rights in America."—New York Law Journal

"A compelling story of bigotry, judicial power, constitutional law, Congressional power, federalism, and civil rights."—Law and Politics Book Review

"In time for the 40th anniversary of these infamous murders, this is another gem in the “Landmark Law Cases” series and deserves a place in any serious collection on U.S. history, law, civil rights, and race relations. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

"A powerful look at the forces that forged the civil rights movement."—Booklist

“A Gothic journey into the racist nightmare of state-sponsored terrorism and murder, Ball’s definitive account also reveals the redemptive power of American democracy and the rule of law.”—William Doyle, author of An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962

“A powerful evocation of a tragic time and place in our national history, Ball’s book captures the moment brilliantly and tells an important story.”—Neil McMillen, winner of the Bancroft prize for Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow

“A superb account of man’s inhumanity to man, Ball’s work has the insider’s touch and makes gripping reading throughout.”—Tinsley Yarbrough, author of Race and Redistricting: The Shaw-Cromartie Cases

From the Publisher

An hour before midnight on June 21, 1964, Ku Klux Klansmen murdered civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James E. Chaney, and Andrew Goodman on Highway 19 outside Philadelphia, MS. Ball (Vermont Law Sch.) looks at the place and time fictionalized in the Oscar-winning film Mississippi Burning. Underscoring the frustrating irony of a nation reaching back to Civil War-era laws to protect civil rights workers nearly a century later, Ball deftly pivots the story on the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous 1966 decision in U.S. v. Price to overturn federal district court rulings dismissing indictments against 18 klansmen on counts stemming from the three murders. (In 1967, seven were convicted of conspiracy but none for murder-a state charge that Mississippi has steadfastly refused to pursue.) In time for the 40th anniversary of these infamous murders, this is another gem in the "Landmark Law Cases" series and deserves a place in any serious collection on U.S. history, law, civil rights, and race relations. Highly recommended.-Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal