We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi

If you don't know this story, you will be reading more about it in upcoming days. So now is the time to get an account of what happened back in 1964 by reading We Are Not Afraid, the most interesting and most complete book written about this cold case that I have read. Three young men, civil rights volunteers, were brutally murdered at the opening of Freedom Summer. And now, 45 years later, the FBI is reopening the case, looking for new leads that could identify new suspects. James Chaney was one of the men murdered. A medical expert who viewed his autopsy photos thinks his body still contains important evidence and wants the FBI to exhume it for reexamination. The expert claims there are two bullets still in Chaney's body that were never removed. Recently it was learned that Edgar Ray Killen, the only man sent to prison for the triple murder, admitted to his former cell mate that he buried evidence from the crime on his property, back in the 1960s. His property has never been searched. When I first read Cagin and Dray's remarkable book, I felt as if I were there in Mississippi--a silent observer to an atrocity that must be remembered and retold. Once I picked up this book and started reading, I could not put it down.

This is a story of domestic terrorism. In this book we have domestic terrorists posing as police officers, another as a preacher, and other assorted riff-raff making up the police state of Mississippi during the 1960s. I was a college student when the shameful execution of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney took place on June 21, 1964. It's true that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. These three men paid the ultimate price trying to get African Americans registered to vote in Mississippi. To be sure, Mississippi wasn't alone in denying African American citizens their basic civil rights. The authors of this book point out the denial of civil rights in other states as well, namely neighboring Alabama. Don't be intimidated by the books length, 457 pages. This book is a riveting read exposing Mississippi's as well as America's shame in regard to civil rights. The 1960s was a violent decade marked by political assassinations, the struggle for civil rights for African Americans, race riots, and the Vietnam war. Other than the three gentlemen who grace the cover of this book I feel another hero in the book is President Lyndon Johnson for pushing for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. American history is filled with events we would like to sweep under the carpet. This book exposes the difficulties African Americans have confronted in gaining their much-deserved equal status in American society. It isn't enough to be embarrassed after reading this book, we, as Americans, need to feel shame and disgust.

This book gives an excellent account of what life was like in the South during the fight for Civil Rights. I was familiar with the case of the Freedom Summer Civil Rights Activist being murdered in Mississippi. This book goes into great detail about that case and other things that were taking place in the Civil Rights Movement at the time. I think this is book is a must read for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Struggle. I felt as if I were there watching the events as the unfolded. They really did their homework for this. It's a great tribute the Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman and all the others who worked along side them to change ideology of the Deep South during this time.

Even if you already know the story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, this book is very detailed and interestingly put together. The background information on the freedom summer project and other activists is insightful, and this book reads like a story, and not just as boring facts. I recommend this book to everyone.

Every so often we need to refresh our memory of the bad things that happened in our lifetime. That is why I read books about the Holocaust. It is also why I read this book, telling of what Mississippi was like for black people in the early 1960s. The murder of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney on June 21, 1964, is a defining event in the struggle to bring Mississippi to greater respect for the basic liberties guaranteed to Americans. This book tells the story in some detail, and also covers other events leading up to the murders. And there are some pages telling what has happened since (up to 1988, when the book was published). Very worthwhile and carefully done.