Book details

  • Genre:true crime
  • Sub-genre:Abductions, Kidnappings & Missing Persons
  • Language:English
  • Pages:200
  • eBook ISBN:9798317823955
  • Paperback ISBN:9798317816162

MIBURN

1964 Mississippi Burning tragedy

By Don VanLandingham Sr.

Overview

Mississippi. A beautiful place with warm and friendly people who will go out of their way to help you find the jewels embodied there; good restaurants, beautiful college campuses, and gambling casinos, not to mention natural beauties like the Natchez Trace, pristine beaches and lakes choking with fish just waiting on a free meal.

But it wasn’t always this way.  In the 1960’s and before, Mississippi and it’s elected officials, along with a few other states, waged a constant battle with the Federal government over the centuries-old practice of segregation of the races.

This is a story of that battle which peaked with the murder of three civil rights activists who came to Mississippi to assist Blacks wanting to register to vote.  The events leading up to this nationwide tragedy, the backgrounds of the victims, the search for the bodies and the people responsible, and the trial itself are all portrayed in this historical novel.

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Description

"He'll be back," said one of the Ku Klux Klan members to the crowd of supporters. "His kind always comes back, and when he does, we'll be ready for him. We're organized, and we'll get him, and he'll be sorry he ever heard of the great state of Mississippi!" A rebel cheer went up with fists in the air. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Johnson on July 2, 1964, marked the beginning of the end of the segregation of the races in the United States. Many people believe the Act would not have had the success it had if there had not been the public outrage occurring, because of the tragic murders of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman just a few days before the signing of the Act. These three young men were among the hundreds of volunteering young people from all over the nation who were a part of "Freedom Summer", the voter registration drive organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This book is about the events leading up to the murders in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the backgrounds of the victims, the search for their bodies and their ruthless Ku Klux Klan killers, and the resulting trial before a White Mississippi jury. Although this story is a novel it accurately portrays the major events as they occurred.
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About The Author

Don VanLandingham Biography Don spent his formative years in Jackson, Mississippi, from the sixth through the eleventh grades. His father, a career FBI agent was transferred for the 7th time to the Savannah, GA office, but Don returned to Mississippi in 1958 having graduated from college with a degree in accounting. He joined a local firm in Jackson and stayed in Mississippi until 1965 when he moved his family to Georgia, He specialized in forensic accounting and retired in 2000 where he took up his hobbies of fishing and kayaking. He discovered he had a gift of writing and has written two other books. Corruptacy is a novel about the bankruptcy industry, and Powhatan Justice spends a story of crime and betrayal in a small Appalachian town. He is married, the father of four children and two step-sons; grandfather to five and great-granddad to seven. At this writing he and his wife, Linda, have been married 36 years.
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