PHILADELPHIA, Miss. – Leroy Clemons was 6 years old, living in Philadelphia, Miss., in the summer of 1964 when hell came to town.
On Father’s Day, June 16, 1964, Ku Klux Klan members from Meridian and Philadelphia ambushed and beat members of the Mount Zion Methodist Church, about nine miles east of town, as they left a church business meeting that night. Later that same evening, they returned and burned the church to the ground. The church had hosted Freedom Summer organizers who wanted to use the church as one of its Freedom Schools. Klan members, acting on a tip, believed that the June 16 meeting was another organizational meeting.
It was that event that brought civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner to town, interviewing church members and others in the community about the incident.
Five days after the church burning, Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were arrested in Philadelphia and later turned over to the Klan shortly after 10 p.m. All three men were shot. Chaney, the only Black man of the three, was also beaten and castrated. Their bodies were buried in an earthen dam that was under construction and were not discovered until Aug. 4.
Eighteen men, including the sheriff and deputy sheriff were indicted. Nine were acquitted. Two more, including Edgar Ray Killen, a local pastor heavily implicated in the murders, remained free after the jury could not come to a verdict. Nine others were acquitted. None of the men found guilty served more than six years.
What followed was 40 years of silence.
Clemons said the only thing he remembered about June 1964 was that a lot of Black people in the community were upset and crying. He didn’t know why.
“Nobody ever talked about it,” he said. “They didn’t teach what happened in school and you never heard anything about it in the churches, either, even the Black churches. I said to myself, “Someday when I’m old enough, I’m going to do something about it.”
It wasn’t until 2004, 40 years after the murders, that the Klan’s grip on the community had loosened enough for the decent people of Philadelphia, Black and white, to feel free to talk about the event that traumatized and paralyzed the community.
Black, Native American and white leaders formed a group, The Philadelphia Coalition, and held meetings to determine how the community would recognize the upcoming 40th anniversary of that summer. Black leaders wanted to hold a march, but white leaders feared a march might lead to violence. White leaders suggested the city issue a resolution, something Black leaders viewed as little more than lip service.
But as the meetings continued, a rapport developed between the groups, ultimately resulting in a “Call For Justice.” Aided by the relentless reporting of Jerry Mitchell of the Clarion Ledger, who had spent six years reporting on Killen’s involvement, Killen was tried again. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three consecutive 20-year terms on June 21, 2005 – 41 years to the day after the crime. He died in prison 12 years later at age 92.
Dick Molpus, who would later serve three terms as Mississippi’s Secretary of State, grew up in Philadelphia and lives nearby today. He was 14 in the summer of ‘64.
“It was a small town filled with good people—good people who were afraid to step up,” Molpus wrote years later. “Remember how the stories went about what had happened to James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman? They had “gone up north, hiding, just to make Philadelphia, Mississippi, look bad.” But many — even we kids — knew that wasn’t true. We knew they were dead. We had even heard who was involved; we knew the names. But the white community would not speak up. They felt that Philadelphia was being attacked. All of a sudden, Walter Cronkite was in Philadelphia, Mississippi. NBC, ABC, and other worldwide news crews were there, and the townsfolk felt they were being depicted as rednecks and that we should band together against these outsiders.”
Philadelphia continues to heal from those awful days and the long silence that followed. Each Father’s Day, Mount Zion church holds a program to remember the beatings, the church burning and the murders. The Philadelphia Coalition transitioned into the Neshoba Youth Council, with Clemons as director. Over the past 20 years, the NYC has played a significant role in reducing teen pregnancies and raising test scores and graduation rates, with a membership of Black, Native American and white high school students.
Forty years of silence have been followed by 20 years of healing and progress.
That happens only when a community honestly confronts its past.
We are now in the final days of “Confederate Heritage Month,” an annual proclamation issued by the Governor that has been an embarrassment to the good people of Mississippi for the past 30 years.
That begs the question: When will Mississippi confront its past? What good might come of it if it did?
Philadelphia, then, is both a cautionary tale and a story of inspiration.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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