The case that sparked passage of this landmark legislation was that of the three civil rights workers murdered in Jackson, Mississippi on June 21, 1964. They were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and they were in Mississippi to register black voters. This case is still open-referred to as a "cold-case"-and the FBI says it is still trying to prosecute it. "Four suspects remain alive" even thou the "key suspect"-Billy Wayne Posey-died recently. The case was the background for the movie "Mississippi Burning".
(Source: "Investigators won't drop 1964 civil rights killings". The Record 8/16/09)
Update: In 1967 Edgar Ray Killen was tried for these crimes. He was found not guilty of the charge of "violation of civil rights"; he wasn't even tried for murder. In 2004 he was tried again and found guilty of murder; he was at that time 80 years old. An interesting part of this trial is that the case was investigated and re-opened based on the work of a group of Chicago high school girls working on a research project for National History Day. Their work sparked the FBI to re-open the case. Information on National History Day can be found on http://nj.nhd.org or by phone at 973-720-3978)
(Source: "Make 21st century skills come alive" by Joan Ruddiman. NJEA Review Sept 2009)
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