The Mississippi Fire Case and TrialFreedom SummerThe Mississippi Summer Project, also known as Freedom Summer, took place in the summer of 1964. It was organized with the help from the NAACP, SNCC, CORE and Robert Moses. The purpose of Freedom Summer was to increase African American voter registration in the state of Mississippi. One of their main goals was to organize the Freedom Democratic Party. They hoped to challenge Mississippi's all-white Democratic Party and establish the Freedom Schools, with the intent of opening community centers to African Americans seeking medical and legal assistance. Over 800 volunteers traveled to Mississippi to work on summer projects. There was a great loss that the project members had to face. Three members were found dead six weeks later. And so the Mississippi Burning case began. Mississippi Burning The Mississippi Burning case dealt with the incident of the disappearance of three Mississippi Summer Project volunteers: Andrew Goodman, 20, Michael Schwerner, 24, also called "goatee" or Jew" from the KKK, , and James Chaney, 21. These young people were shot and killed on a street in Neshoba County because of their active involvement in the fight for the civil rights of African Americans and their right to vote. Longdale's Neshoba County had a reputation for “being tough on blacks” (www.core-online.org). Lawrence Rainey, sheriff of Neshoba County, and his deputy, Cecil Price, were both members of the KKK. They initiated Plan 4 to eliminate Michael Schwerner on Memorial Day and all other activists, then they and thirty men armed with rifles showed up at Mount Zion Church to kill him. They were unsuccessful, as they did... half of the paper... nineteen men were arrested for "conspiracy to deprive Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman of their civil rights under state law" (www.core -online. org). A jury of seven white men and five white women, aged between 34 and 67, was selected as jurors. One man during jury selection even claimed to be a former KKK member and had been admitted as a juror. This biased jury was challenged. But the challenge was rejected. Finally, on December 29, Judge Cox handed down his sentence. Roberts and Bowers received ten years, Posey and Price six years, and the other three defendants sentenced four years. Cox said of his sentences: "They killed a nigger, a Jew, and a white man: I gave them all what I thought they deserved" (www.core-online.org). Price served just four years and returned home to his family saying he had changed after watching the TV show "Roots"..”