(Scholastic Press, 250 pp.)
One of the most gut-wrenching episodes in civil rights history occurred when three young men 鈥� two white and one black 鈥� were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964. Their efforts to increase black voter registration and the 41-year pursuit of a conviction in the murder case are at the core of this account.
Here's an excerpt from "The Freedom Summer Murders":
鈥淪everal years before Edgar Ray Killen was indicted by the state of Mississippi, reporter Jeffrey Goldberg went to Killen鈥檚 house southeast of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Preacher Killen鈥檚 home was a short distance from the location where the three men were murdered on Rock Cut Road. Holding a shotgun, Killen told the reporter, 鈥業 told you I ain鈥檛 talking with you. My gun鈥檚 clean and ready.鈥� The reporter observed that Killen was 鈥榣eathery and bent over, but his arms were roped with muscle. He seemed to be living proof that time does not temper rage. He was seventy-six when I saw him.' 'I told you I don鈥檛 want to talk about those boys no more, 鈥� Killen said.鈥�
