- Fannie Lee Chaney
Fannie Lee Chaney (September 4, 1921 – May 22, 2007) [Social Security Death Index [database on-line] . Accessed on http://www.ancestry.com] was an American
baker turnedcivil rights activist after her sonJames Chaney was murdered by theKu Klux Klan during the 1964Freedom Summer rides in Mississippi.After her son’s murder, Mrs. Chaney sued five restaurants in Meridian for racial discrimination. She was fired from her job and could not find other work. Crosses were burned on her lawn, and a firebomb intended for her family’s house destroyed that of a neighbor. She moved to
New York City , finding work at a nursing home. After 30 years, she retired and moved toNew Jersey .In 2005 she testified for the State of Mississippi in the murder case against
Edgar Ray Killen , one of her son's killers. Killen was cleared of murder by the jury, but convicted ofmanslaughter and given a 60 years sentence, which he is serving.Death
Fannie Chaney died in
Willingboro, New Jersey in May 2007 of undisclosed causes, aged 84.Martin, Douglas (May 24, 2007). Fannie Lee Chaney, 84, Mother of Slain Civil Rights Worker, Is Dead. "New York Times "] Three months later,Carolyn Goodman , the mother ofAndrew Goodman , who was killed with Chaney, also died.References
External links
* [http://mississippiburning.org/ How the Mississippi Burning Case Was Reopened]
*imdb|1430095
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