Murder in Mississippi: United States v. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights.Murder in Mississippi: United States v. Price United States v. Cecil Price, et al. , also known as the Mississippi Burning trial, was arguably one of the most famous criminal trials in American history. and the Struggle for Civil Rights. By Howard Ball. Landmark Law Cases and American Society. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas The University Press of Kansas is a publisher that represents the state universities in Kansas (Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.). , c. 2004. Pp. xviii, 171. Paper, $12.95, ISBN 0-7006-1316-1; cloth, $29.95, ISBN 0-7006-1315-3.) The 1964 murders of Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman in Neshoba County, Mississippi Neshoba County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2000 census, the population is 28,684. Its county seat is Philadelphia6. Neshoba is the Choctaw word meaning Gray Wolf. , initiated a lawsuit that made illegal any acts of racial violence related to the exercise of federal rights. The Supreme Court case United States v. Price represented a watershed in the civil rights movement because it allowed the federal government to prosecute whites who escaped punishment on the state level for their actions against civil rights workers. Murder in Mississippi: United States v. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights is an analysis that places the case "in the long struggle for racial justice in" Mississippi (p. ix). Yet the book does more than explain the facts concerning the suit. Howard Ball, a political scientist who lived and taught in Mississippi, attempts "to capture the fears, the hatred, the irrational behavior of those who lived and worked in the Deep South at that time" (p. 2). Ball's ultimate goal is for the state of Mississippi to reopen the file as a criminal case and bring those responsible for the Freedom Summer murders to justice. It is an ambitious goal that Ball places in magnificent context. The narrative aspect is this book's primary strength. Ball provides background information that heightens the importance of United States v. Price. For instance, he starts with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka) (1954) U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. decision because it represented "the beginning of a declared war between southern segregationists" and the federal government (p. 16). From there Ball traces the development of groups that played key roles in the incident and federal investigation such as the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a Mississippi state agency that existed from 1956 to 1977. It acted as a de facto intelligence organization, working to keep segregation in place. , the Mississippi Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan (k  ' klŭks klăn), designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used , the Council of Federated Organizations The Council of Federated Organizations, or COFO, was formed in 1962.COFO consisted of four primary civil rights organizations: the NAACP, Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. , and the Congress of Racial Equality Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), civil-rights organization founded (1942) in Chicago by James Farmer. Dedicated to the use of nonviolent direct action, CORE initially sought to promote better race relations and end racial discrimination in the United States. . The author also gives the backgrounds of key individuals and explains, for example, how the lives of Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman, American civil-rights workers in the South during the 1960s. Michael Schwerner (b. 1939) and Andrew Goodman (b. 1943), both white New Yorkers, went to Mississippi in 1964 as volunteers to aid in the registration of African-American intersected in Neshoba County. The book peaks with the Supreme Court's intervention and the subsequent imprisonment of seven Klansmen. But it is the last chapter that proves most intriguing. Ball repeatedly states that no Klansman has faced state charges for the three murders and, in a final chapter that traces events relevant to the case through 2004, pleads for reopening the case. He concludes, "It is past time for a final accounting.... There cannot be any peace or rest until justice is done" (p. 149). Such an impassioned call for action undoubtedly will make historians who are concerned with maintaining objectivity uneasy. Yet through a well-organized and clearly written book, Ball demonstrates the necessity of historical activism in certain instances. Despite one's opinion concerning its provocative conclusion, Murder in Mississippi remains 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. South Georgia College J. MICHAEL BUTLER |
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