The Freedom Summer Murders

by Don Mitchell

Overview

A gripping true story of murder and the fight for civil rights and social justice in 1960s Mississppi.

On June 21, 1964, three young men were killed by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to help black Americans vote as part of the 1964 Fredom Summer registration effort in Mississippi. The disappearance and brutal murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner caused a national uproar and was one of the most significant events of the civil rights movement.The Freedom Summer Murders tells the tragic story of these brave men, the crime that resulted in their untimely deaths, and the relentless forty-one-year pursuit of a conviction. It is the story of idealistic and courageous young people who wanted to change their county for the better. It is the story of black and white. And ultimately, it is the story of our nation's endless struggle to close the gap between what is and what should be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338115895
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/25/2016
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1130L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Don Mitchell is a critically acclaimed author of nonfiction for young people, including The Lady Is a Spy: Virginia Hall, World War II Hero of the French Resistance and The Freedom Summer Murders, which received multiple starred reviews and was a Kirkus Prize finalist for Young Readers’ Literature, an NAACP Image Award nominee for Outstanding Literary Work for Teens, and a Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year; Liftoff: A Photobiography of John Glenn; and Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford. He has served on the staff of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as on the staff of the National Security Council.

Editorial Reviews

Awards and Praise for The Freedom Summer Murders

Kirkus Prize finalist in the Young Readers' LiteratureNAACP Image Award nomineeCybils Award finalist

* "A must-read in any young adult study of the civil rights era." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

* "Essential." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An eye-opening read..." —Booklist

"A timely, essential account, illustrated with contemporary photos and capped with extensive endnotes and source notes." —School Library Journal

"[An] absorbing book.... It will grab you fom its opening paragraphs an won't let go until justice is serve." —The Horn Book Magazine

"This is quite simply the best book on this subject for young people." — David Goodman, President, The Andrew Goodman Foundation

From the Publisher

★ 06/23/2014
Mitchell commemorates the 50th anniversary of the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi who died helping African-Americans register to vote. A recount of the brutal slayings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan opens the book. The narrative then rewinds to the upbringing and family lives of the three young men (two white and one African-American), while final chapters recap the long road to justice for their killers (a state trial resulted in the conviction of the suspected mastermind just nine years ago). Archival photos are included throughout, including a jarring image depicting the victims' partially buried bodies, discovered two months after the men went missing. Mitchell (Driven) concludes that it wasn't just "racist thugs" to blame for murdering the men. Rather, "they were killed by institutionalized racism that in 1964 permeated every aspect of Mississippi's legal, political and social order." Vignettes profiling other courageous civil rights figures connected to the case wrap up this extensively researched page-turner. A must-read in any young adult study of the civil rights era. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2014-03-17
A 50th-anniversary examination of the Mississippi murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and their aftermath. An introduction describes the legally entrenched racism of Mississippi and the inception of the Freedom Summer campaign. Following this, Mitchell drops readers right in with the events that led up to the murder of the three young men, evoking the hostility and fear that covered Neshoba County like a blanket. He pulls back to sketch the victims' biographies in separate chapters, then takes readers through the investigation and the steps toward the 1967 trial that infamously failed to deliver justice. That account alone, illustrated with ample archival photographs and memorabilia, makes riveting reading. He clearly states the legal intricacies and thoroughly incorporates the players' own voices, with often breathtaking effect: "They killed one nigger, one Jew, and a white man. I gave them all what I thought they deserved," said the presiding judge later. Mitchell takes the story into the present day, describing how the families of the victims continue to fight for civil rights and how both locals and state officials kept the case alive, simultaneously working toward legal and emotional resolution. He leaves open the question whether now "the killing of a black mother's son is as important as the killing of a white mother's son"—but the country is getting closer to that goal. Essential. (map, endnotes, bibliographic essay, bibliography, index [not seen]) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews