JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Civil-rights activists in Mississippi are preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer in 2014.
They say while race relations have improved, people must remain vigilant to protect voting rights.
In 1964, thousands of people descended on Mississippi to help with voter registration and to provide education programs for black residents who had been denied full rights as citizens.
The work was dangerous. On June 21, 1964, civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were killed in Neshoba County. Chaney was a black man from Meridian, Miss. Schwerner and Goodman were white men from New York.
One of Chaney's sisters, the Rev. Julia Chaney-Moss of Willingboro, N.J., said Friday at Tougaloo College that she still hopes all people will learn to treat each other with respect.
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