Was vernon dahmer black or white michael

Individuals and institutions intent on maintaining white supremacy in Mississippi responded to federal intervention, U.S. Supreme Court orders, and an influx of civil rights activists with criminalization, terrorism, and violence. Rev. George Lee, Vernon Dahmer, and Lamar Smith were murdered in Mississippi after encouraging Black citizens to vote in the s and s.

Medgar Evers, a Mississippi native and Navy veteran, became the state’s first NAACP field secretary. His work to promote racial equality attracted death threats from local white supremacists. On June 11, , year-old Evers was shot and killed outside of his home in Jackson while his wife and children were inside. His murder and burial at Arlington National Cemetery made national and international news.

In , the “Mississippi Summer Project” brought hundreds of college students to the state to register Black voters and teach in freedom schools. Activists Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman were murdered by Klansmen and found on August 4, , near Longdale, Mississippi, after a long, high-profile search.

Students and activists working for racial equality in Mississippi were targeted by law enforcement officials and faced arrest, imprisonment, and police brutality. In June , Fannie Lou Hamer and other activists were arrested and brutally beaten by police in Winona, Mississippi. In June , police arrested hundreds of protestors at the state capitol in Jackson. Mississippi became known as the most dangerous and violent place to fight for racial justice during the civil rights era.

On June 21, , James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were tortured and murdered by the KKK with help from the deputy sheriff near Philadelphia in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

The three young men had traveled to Neshoba County (from the Freedom Summer orientation in Oxford, Ohio) to investigate the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, which had been a site of a COREFreedom School.

They were killed defending the right to learn and human rights for all.

While their case received national attention (thanks to grassroots organizers), there were more people murdered in Mississippi while seeking basic democratic and human rights. A few of those stories are listed in Related Resources below.

In fact, while investigators dragged and searched the rivers, they uncovered the bodies of eight African Americans: Herbert Oarsby, a year-old who was wearing a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) t-shirt; Henry Hezekiah Dee and Eddie Moore (both years-old); and five unidentified men.

Throughout the rest of June and July, authorities (including President Lyndon Johnson), claimed that the disappearance of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner could be a Civil Rights Movement publicity stunt.

Their bodies were found, buried in a dam site in Neshoba County, on August 4,

In , Ronald Reagan launched his general election campaign with a speech lauding “states’ rights” outside Philadelphia, Mississippi, within walking distance from the earthen dam where the three civil rights workers had been buried.

See the Democracy Now! broadcast: “After Over Four Decades, Justice Still Eludes Family of 3 Civil Rights Workers Slain in Mississippi Burning Killings.”

Find resources below to teach outside the textbook about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Freedom Summer.

March 10, &#; January 10,
Raised in Forrest County, Mississippi

Vernon Dahmer dedicated his life to the power of the vote and the potential of young people. His determination to fight for voting rights taught two young SNCC organizers, Hollis Watkins and Curtis Hayes, who came to Hattiesburg from McComb, the value of embedding themselves into the community. After hearing about the student protests in McComb, Dahmer asked the two&#;SNCC’s newest field secretaries &#;to work on a voter registration project in Hattiesburg. The Dahmer farm quickly became a home away from home, a place where they not only planned Hattiesburg’s voter registration project but also came together and celebrated. Dahmer himself spent most of his time caring for his farm but always made sure that the SNCC organizers accompanied him to church, where he talked with his neighbors about registration.

Dahmer, a family man and independent farmer, cared deeply about his neighbors. He was an outspoken civil rights activist and the president of the Forrest County NAACP. Like many older adults in Mississippi, he used his lifelong friendships with local people to help young SNCC organizers become as much of a part of the community as he was.

Though Hattiesburg had a strong community of independent Black landowners, the local circuit clerk, Theron Lynd, did everything in his power to maintain white control. When Black voters attempted to register, Lynd asked impossible-to-answer questions, such as, “How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?” Vernon Dahmer led the civil rights attack against such unfair exercises of power. As SNCC organizer Lawrence Guyot said, “Vernon Dahmer made the difference.”

Dahmer had been an advocate for young people long b

On the Civil Rights Memorial are inscribed the names of individuals who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom during the modern Civil Rights Movement &#; to The martyrs include activists who were targeted for death because of their civil rights work; random victims of vigilantes determined to halt the movement; and individuals who, in the sacrifice of their own lives, brought new awareness to the struggle.

The chronology below briefly describes their lives. More information is available at the Civil Rights Memorial Center.

May 7, · Belzoni, Mississippi

Rev. George Lee, one of the first black people registered to vote in Humphreys County, used his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. White officials offered Lee protection on the condition he end his voter registration efforts, but Lee refused and was murdered.

August 13, · Brookhaven, Mississippi

Lamar Smith was shot dead on the courthouse lawn by a white man in broad daylight while dozens of people watched. The killer was never indicted because no one would admit they saw a white man shoot a black man. Smith had organized blacks to vote in a recent election.

August 28, · Money, Mississippi

Emmett Louis Till, a year-old boy on vacation from Chicago, reportedly flirted with a white woman in a store. Three nights later, two men took Till from his bed, beat him, shot him and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. An all-white jury found the men innocent of murder.

October 22, · Mayflower, Texas

John Earl Reese, 16, was dancing in a café when white men fired shots into the windows. Reese was killed and two others were wounded. The shootings were part of an attempt by whites to terrorize blacks into giving up plans for a new school. (photograph unavailable)

January 23, · Montgomery, Alabama

Will