Jackson Free Press

Three heroes of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom thanks to Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

The medal is the highest honor granted to civilians in the U.S. and honors contributions to U.S. security, world peace and cultural achievement.

President Barack Obama will honor James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner Nov. 24 at the White House.

Through a statement, Thompson, a Bolton native, said the three young civil rights workers were taken away too early.

"These three young men, and countless others, paid the ultimate sacrifice in an effort to help bring equality to the state of Mississippi. Bestowing the nation's highest civilian honor to these three men is a fitting tribute for their contribution toward making this country a more perfect Union," Thompson said in a press statement.

Thompson, along with several other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote to Obama requesting that the men receive recognition. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of their murders during Freedom Summer.

In 1989, Congress passed a resolution designating June 21 as Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner Day after the three civil rights workers murdered 25 years earlier on that day. Neither then-Sen. Trent Lott and or current U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, both Republicans, would co-sponsor the resolution.

Preacher Edgar Ray Killen of Neshoba County planned the conspiracy to kill the three men, informants testified in 1967 and again in 2005. That year, he was convicted of manslaughter for his role in the assassinations. Killen is serving a 60-year sentence at Parchman.

In addition to the Mississippi honorees, choreographer Alvin Ailey, who died in 1989, will receive the medal posthumously. Meryl Streep, Stevie Wonder and Tom Brokaw will also receive the medal.

Other honorees include musical theater composer Stephen Sondheim; actress Marlo Thomas; former California Rep. Edward Roybal of California; Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the longest-serving congressman in American history; and Ethel Kennedy, the widow of former Sen. Robert Kennedy.

Native American activist Suzan Harjo and former Reps. Abner Mikva of Illinois and Patsy Takemoto Mink of Hawaii, author Isabel Allende, scientist Mildred Dresselhaus, golfer Charles Sifford and economist Robert Solow will also be honored.