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WE ARE NOT AFRAID
We Are Not Afraid is the story of the 1964 killing of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi, at the hands of Ku Klux Klansmen and the local cops. Described as "one of the best books on the civil rights movement," the murders it describes inspired the acclaimed film, Mississippi Burning. The events surrounding this seminal event have re-entered public debate due to the recent conviction of manslaughter by Klansman and Imperial Wizard, Edgar Ray Killen, for his part in orchestrating the murders. As America struggles to honestly confront its history of racism, there has never been a more timely moment to reissue this fully updated edition of We Are Not Afraid . From the roles played by such figures as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy to the remarkable courage of the Freedom Riders, this book relates the definitive story of a nation's ongoing battle for true democracy.
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First published April 25, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 9, 2012
Update: 6/9/2012
I happened to watch the movie Mississippi Burning again recently and was instantly returned to the events of 1964 and 1965, the year I graduated high school. I had forgotten how bad things were. Random lynchings, murder, intimidation, arson; they seemed to be regular occurrences, our own Kristallnacht, if you will, except it lasted much, much longer. There is no question prejudice still bedevils us, but it is remarkable how much has changed since 1964.
The FBI has declassified many of the documents from its files related to MIBURN and, while heavily redacted, still make interesting reading. [http://vault.fbi.gov/Mississippi%20Bu...] This book is still one of the best summarizing events.
"Jordan stood in the road with his gun at his side. ’Well, he drawled solemnly, ’You didn’t leave me nothing but a nigger, but at least I killed me a nigger. " This is a book everyone should read. They use the murder of the three civil rights workers as a backdrop for a thorough and frightening history of the civil rights movement during the early 60s. The movie Mississippi Burning was loosely based on the same incidents.
"Mississippi Burning" or MIBURN was the FBI code word for the investigation in Mississippi. The situation in Mississippi was truly horrifying. Blacks were routinely murdered, beaten and terrorized with the full complicity of the local police. In 1958 a black professor at Alcorn (a local black college) sought admission to the University of Mississippi. He was of course denied admission and when the word. got out of his attempt he was dragged from his home and declared legally insane and committed. Another black, a graduate of the University of Chicago, applied in 1959 for a summer session course at the University of Mississippi. He was shortly thereafter framed for stealing 5 sacks of chicken feed and sentenced to 7 years at hard labor.
Mississippi had been targeted by SNOC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee,) CORE, (the Congress on Racial Equality) and several other civil rights groups for a massive voter registration campaign. Neshoba County, where the murders were committed, was so racially uptight that the children of a. mulatto couple "formed a covenant to live their lives in celibacy to prevent their blood strain from being passed to another generation." The KKK was very active; most of the local police were members. From the moment of their arrival the civil rights workers were the targets of bomb threats, intimidation, and harassment. The courage of these students knowing that they might be facing imminent death is truly astonishing. The list of bombings, arrests, and beatings between June 16 and August 14, 1964, for example, ran to 34 single-spaced typed legal sized pages. (The three murders were committed on June 21, 1964.)
It is also ironic and sad that the nation's ire was aroused only after two white students were killed. While searching for the three bodies many bodies of brutalized and mutilated blacks were discovered including, tragically, one which was never identified; that of a fourteen year old boy who was discovered wearing a CORE T-shirt. Black leaders became, justifiably bitter. One additional irony. The authors present substantial evidence that it was LBJ’s refusal to seat the Mississippi Freedom Party at the Democratic National Convention in 1964 that led to the rise of the black power movement. The phrase "black power" was first used at that convention. What astonishes me is that despite the mounting frustration and bitterness which had accumulated over the years, Martin Luther King’s nonviolent approach still managed. to obtain such a wide base of support.
This is an important book, although the incredible amount of hatred portrayed, will truly depress the reader. The Nazis obviously had no corner on the brutality market. Personally, I think Mississippi would have made a terrific place to store toxic waste. Or is that redundant.
February 25, 2008
This is one of those books that changed my life when I read it. The story of the three civil rights workers who were murdered by the KKK in tiny Neshoba County Mississippi in the early 60's. I was fascinated to read about the students who put their lives on the line so that African Americans have the basic right to VOTE. When I finished this amazing book, I wrote a very long letter to one of the civil rights workers family. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who has an interest in the South, the 1960's or the Civil Rights Movement. It is hard to believe this all occurred in the US not so very long ago. Mississippi seemed like another country with it's own rules and laws.
May 27, 2011
This book was well written and contains an extensive bibliography. I didn't expect it to have such a sweeping history of the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s, but now I realize the story of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner would be impossible to tell without it. It was an excellent read, very well written but emotionally difficult. Everyone should read this book.
April 18, 2021
Book publishing is like the lottery. Now, here's a great book with only one-hundred or so ratings. A book that obviously slipped under the radar. But if you're interested in the start of integration in the south in the mid 50s and early 1960s and liked the movie "Mississippi Burning," this is fascinating stuff, readable. Although it's more than the murders of the three civil rights workers. It's a history of time and place.
April 25, 2017
Not Bad
This wasn't a bad book but was misleading. About 65 percent of the book is about the whole civil rights movement in America, not the murders. Plus there are a lot of names to remember, some not even relevant. The book didn't transfer well to digital, there was even a part where a gentleman who's backstory was being discussed didn't have a name because it had not transferred to the digital copy.
This wasn't a bad book but was misleading. About 65 percent of the book is about the whole civil rights movement in America, not the murders. Plus there are a lot of names to remember, some not even relevant. The book didn't transfer well to digital, there was even a part where a gentleman who's backstory was being discussed didn't have a name because it had not transferred to the digital copy.
August 30, 2019
Of all the books on this brutal story, Cagin and Dray's remains the most in-depth forensic analysis of that sad Midsummer Day of 1964. The aftermath of this sordid murder galvanized the nation and was one of the top events of the entire movement, along with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, in 1963; the assassination of Medger Evers; and M.L. King's own assassination in 1968. Of interest is how the authors tied the events of a local lynching into broader trends. The Free Speech and anti-war movement, founded at Berkeley later that year, owed its origin to Freedom Summer activist Mario Savio (and this is a clue as to why no comparable anti-war movement has arisen since in the United States.)
The inspiration of sending students into the heartland was, of course, the "going to the people" of the Russian Peoples' Will movement a century before. With the escalation of violence all through the south, these students from elite universities found they had even less civil protection than their predecessors in Tzarist Russia. Ironically, while the backlash - and this tragedy in particular - sparked a revolutionary wave at the grass roots, it also levered the establishment political machinery into both domestic action, and to aid an escalating Vietnam War.
The Kennedy Administration still hoped to "balance" the party's civil rights rhetoric with its practical need of the Solid South to stay in power. Johnson, being a southern insider, was in the better position to influence Democratic senators and governors to see things his way, in passing and enforcing civil rights laws. And prosecuting (not convicting) the perpetrators in the FBI's "Mississippi Burning" case was a demonstration to newly-emerged Afro-Asian nations that the US was "serious about its commitment to democracy" both at home and in Vietnam.
However "unreconstructed" the Deep South was at this time, I see little difference between the actions of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and other contemporary thuggery, like anti-union violence in the Ohio Valley coalfields, or the CIA's "wet" Phoenix Program in Vietnam; or the chanting - not only by southerners - some six years later, of "the Kent State Four - it should have been more." Mississippi's legacy of violence was by no means some freak eruption of an isolated backward province, but resonant of attitudes and values throughout American culture.
I also looked for evidence of local folklore surrounding this incident: like the gruesome story that Chaney's genitals had been severed, and orally inserted into either Goodman's or Schwerner's corpse. None of that emerges in this account, and likely would have were this story valid. Interesting also was the authors' brief mention of another local legend - the mulatto Burns family, so ashamed of their biracial heritage that all its children took "vows" of celibacy to preserve Neshoba County from their own genetic "impurity." There's Anti-Natalism with a vengeance!
But this accounting should seriously remind us, in an age of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the militarization of the state, the strip-tease of basic civil rights (including one's clothes in police custody), that we cannot take these rights for granted. No "occupy" movement will create lasting change unless it can produce young people like these, with the courage to challenge power and take their convictions all the way.
The inspiration of sending students into the heartland was, of course, the "going to the people" of the Russian Peoples' Will movement a century before. With the escalation of violence all through the south, these students from elite universities found they had even less civil protection than their predecessors in Tzarist Russia. Ironically, while the backlash - and this tragedy in particular - sparked a revolutionary wave at the grass roots, it also levered the establishment political machinery into both domestic action, and to aid an escalating Vietnam War.
The Kennedy Administration still hoped to "balance" the party's civil rights rhetoric with its practical need of the Solid South to stay in power. Johnson, being a southern insider, was in the better position to influence Democratic senators and governors to see things his way, in passing and enforcing civil rights laws. And prosecuting (not convicting) the perpetrators in the FBI's "Mississippi Burning" case was a demonstration to newly-emerged Afro-Asian nations that the US was "serious about its commitment to democracy" both at home and in Vietnam.
However "unreconstructed" the Deep South was at this time, I see little difference between the actions of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and other contemporary thuggery, like anti-union violence in the Ohio Valley coalfields, or the CIA's "wet" Phoenix Program in Vietnam; or the chanting - not only by southerners - some six years later, of "the Kent State Four - it should have been more." Mississippi's legacy of violence was by no means some freak eruption of an isolated backward province, but resonant of attitudes and values throughout American culture.
I also looked for evidence of local folklore surrounding this incident: like the gruesome story that Chaney's genitals had been severed, and orally inserted into either Goodman's or Schwerner's corpse. None of that emerges in this account, and likely would have were this story valid. Interesting also was the authors' brief mention of another local legend - the mulatto Burns family, so ashamed of their biracial heritage that all its children took "vows" of celibacy to preserve Neshoba County from their own genetic "impurity." There's Anti-Natalism with a vengeance!
But this accounting should seriously remind us, in an age of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, the militarization of the state, the strip-tease of basic civil rights (including one's clothes in police custody), that we cannot take these rights for granted. No "occupy" movement will create lasting change unless it can produce young people like these, with the courage to challenge power and take their convictions all the way.
August 14, 2015
I have wanted to read this book for a long time because I have grown up with an interest in the civil rights movement and the political process. We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi by Philip Dray & Seth Cagin provides a brilliant perspective of a time in America I was too young to appreciate, then; though I do have some memories of the events of that time such as the march on Washington in August, 1963. I was perplexed, as a little girl, watching the television coverage and not being able to grasp why African American people didn't have the same rights as I did, and why they couldn't vote as my parents had the right to do. It was my first exposure to unfairness, and one I'll never forget. I am as perplexed by this unfairness, racism and stereotypes today as I was then.
We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi is one of those books that I wish I had to power to make required reading for every single person who lives in this country because it has so much to say. So much so that I cannot even begin to write about it here. It is one of those books that is part chronicle, part investigation, and part true crime story with a tremendous sense of right and wrong, woven into the true-to-life tapestry. But it is not a book that one can forget. And it is not a book for anyone who cannot handle horror and graphic description of physical and emotional beatings.
I will reread this book again because it has so much to say, and I thank the authors for chronicling these events so I and others may never forget Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Chaney and the others who have fought and sacrificed for what is right and to create a better America.
We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi is one of those books that I wish I had to power to make required reading for every single person who lives in this country because it has so much to say. So much so that I cannot even begin to write about it here. It is one of those books that is part chronicle, part investigation, and part true crime story with a tremendous sense of right and wrong, woven into the true-to-life tapestry. But it is not a book that one can forget. And it is not a book for anyone who cannot handle horror and graphic description of physical and emotional beatings.
I will reread this book again because it has so much to say, and I thank the authors for chronicling these events so I and others may never forget Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Chaney and the others who have fought and sacrificed for what is right and to create a better America.
July 4, 2014
I have known about this part of history for quite a while, but had only seen it in documentaries. With my son moving to Mississippi, it reentered my consciousness and I decided to read this book. I wasn't too far into it before I realized this was a really important book. It not only tells the story of the three civil rights workers that were slain, but it does so by framing it with the events of the whole civil rights movement. In the Mississippi sections, I was thunderstruck by the racism on so many levels that I couldn't help but be reminded of Hitler. In the descriptions of the events on the national level, I was saddened to read of the sit-ins at segregated lunch counters by college students where whites jeered behind them and poured catsup and sodas on them (there is a picture in the book that stuns me every time I look at it). I was also surprised to learn there were some Negro civil right leaders who resented Martin Luther King, Jr. and his actions surrounding several events. These are just a few highlights that stuck with me after I finished the book. I highly recommend it to everyone.
March 3, 2014
Excellently written, incredibly jarring.
The disgusting viciousness of sheer hatred and racial violence in Mississippi is laid bare in this tell-all of the events surrounding the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the Freedom Summer of 1964. We Are Not Afraid chronicles the primarily student driven movement that lead up to the Freedom Summer, while also focusing on the internal and long lasting violence that had been roiling in Mississippi for well over a century prior.
The brutality is gut wrenching. The movement is inspiring. And the legacy remains, unconfronted, and often blurred all to quietly into the background of a time that 'we' have 'overcome.'
However, as Cagin and Dray adeptly note, the viciousness and vileness of the men who murdered these boys, and many others, did not die with the ending of a decade or the passing of a bill. The legacy of this hatred and violence is very much alive, and each day that passes without confronting that legacy is one day further from a time of true justice.
An important and powerful read.
The disgusting viciousness of sheer hatred and racial violence in Mississippi is laid bare in this tell-all of the events surrounding the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the Freedom Summer of 1964. We Are Not Afraid chronicles the primarily student driven movement that lead up to the Freedom Summer, while also focusing on the internal and long lasting violence that had been roiling in Mississippi for well over a century prior.
The brutality is gut wrenching. The movement is inspiring. And the legacy remains, unconfronted, and often blurred all to quietly into the background of a time that 'we' have 'overcome.'
However, as Cagin and Dray adeptly note, the viciousness and vileness of the men who murdered these boys, and many others, did not die with the ending of a decade or the passing of a bill. The legacy of this hatred and violence is very much alive, and each day that passes without confronting that legacy is one day further from a time of true justice.
An important and powerful read.
December 30, 2014
IMO one of the best books on the civil rights movement, and I've read many. Most people have at least some knowledge of that portion of the movement guided by Martin Luther King and the SCLC; The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Birmingham, Selma and other high profile campaigns that received significant press coverage. This book focuses on the part of the movement led by students and other young people; the lunch counter sit-ins, campus unrest and specifically Freedom Summer and the horrendous violence visited upon the young volunteers, most of them college students, in the deep south. Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were murdered in cold blood on the first day of the Freedom Summer campaign finally drawing national attention to conditions in Mississippi and the deep south in general. 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, an appropriate time to revisit this dark chapter in American history. Highly recommended.
July 30, 2018
Andy Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney were three young men determined, in spite of the dangerous racist atmosphere in Mississippi, to help blacks register to vote in a time when the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists intimidated, harmed, and even killed blacks trying to register. I knew the story of the young mens' bogus arrest for speeding and how local law enforcement conspired with the KKK to ambush and kill them. I did not know the details of their deaths or how much their murders affected the progress of civil rights in the sixties, but this book made it all crystal clear. From the red dirt found in Andy's lungs and clinched hand showing he had been buried alive after being shot, to the handling of the case by President Johnson and the FBI, We Are Not Afraid delves deeply into the murders that shocked and galvanized our government and our country into action. Highly recommended reading.
January 6, 2013
What an amazing book this is! At the same time, it can be very hard to read. Perhaps a better way to say that is the book contains scenes and stories that can be very hard to read because the cruelty and ignorance on display are incredible.
This book is much more than just a story about the murder of the three civil rights workers. There is a lot of the history of the civil rights movement in the South included, and it is essential to putting this particular crime into context.
I highly recommend "We Are Not Afraid" to anyone who wants to understand just how badly oppressed African-Americans were in Mississippi back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. I also recommend it to anyone who doubts that it was "not that bad" back then.
This book is much more than just a story about the murder of the three civil rights workers. There is a lot of the history of the civil rights movement in the South included, and it is essential to putting this particular crime into context.
I highly recommend "We Are Not Afraid" to anyone who wants to understand just how badly oppressed African-Americans were in Mississippi back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. I also recommend it to anyone who doubts that it was "not that bad" back then.
April 8, 2015
Need to rearrange the title
The book really should change the title to the civil rights struggle for Mississippi and the story of Goodman,Schweitzer, Chaney. The reason is more than fifty percent of the book deals with lunch counter sit ins, bus boycotts, and other civil rights events not directly related to the case. The events surrounding the three men are dealt with but it seems to be secondary to rest of the civil rights history the authors relate. Good book, but a little misleading on the title.
The book really should change the title to the civil rights struggle for Mississippi and the story of Goodman,Schweitzer, Chaney. The reason is more than fifty percent of the book deals with lunch counter sit ins, bus boycotts, and other civil rights events not directly related to the case. The events surrounding the three men are dealt with but it seems to be secondary to rest of the civil rights history the authors relate. Good book, but a little misleading on the title.
July 30, 2012
After seeing "Mississippi Burning" for the first time, wanted to know a little more about the story. Excellent book, good background information, still hard to believe this stuff was going on just a few years before I was born.
September 24, 2013
There are no words for how much this book affected me.
Terrifying, sad, and powerful. Read it. This actually happened in our country barely 50 years ago. It is our responsibility to ensure that racists do not have their hateful way with our country.
Terrifying, sad, and powerful. Read it. This actually happened in our country barely 50 years ago. It is our responsibility to ensure that racists do not have their hateful way with our country.
June 20, 2007
Great recounting of the murders in Philadelphia, Mississippi set in the context of the larger Civil Rights Movement.
April 11, 2008
This book is akin to Simple Justice. the author chronicles the civil rights worker's motivations and struggles to enfranchise the African American in the south. Very moving text.
July 16, 2012
This book changed my life.
July 12, 2023
Many years ago my mother picked up “We are Not Afraid” from a thrift store and thought I’d like to read it. At the time I was a teenager and the content was too heavy, so I stopped halfway through it. What I did finish changed my life, because I knew then that there was never a wrong time to do the right thing.
Phillip Dray delves into the tragic murders of CORE Activists Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, but he also highlights unsung heroes of the movement, like Diane Nash, Bob Mosses, and Fannie Lou Hamer. The “Mississippi Burning” murders occurred at a pivotal time in America, with Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law soon after Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney went missing. Dray also details Johnson’s reluctance to sign the act because of his fear of losing southern voters.
“We are not Afraid” is a heavy read, and doesn’t spare any expense into telling a story thar world needs to know. When I read the book in the early 90s, most of us only didn’t know that the Movie Mississippi Burning was based on real events, and we didn’t know much about the young men who were murdered. We didn’t know that Mickey Schwerner, the “hippie” from New York, continued to fight for others even when he was the most marked of the three. We didn’t know that Andrew Goodman had second thoughts going to Mississippi, and that James Chaney, a MS native, was expecting a child before his disappearance. Dray doesn’t not portray these men as martyrs, who believed that all Americans deserved equality and civil rights.
With the passage of time, now more than ever “We are not afraid” is as relevant as it was back in 1964.
Phillip Dray delves into the tragic murders of CORE Activists Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, but he also highlights unsung heroes of the movement, like Diane Nash, Bob Mosses, and Fannie Lou Hamer. The “Mississippi Burning” murders occurred at a pivotal time in America, with Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law soon after Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney went missing. Dray also details Johnson’s reluctance to sign the act because of his fear of losing southern voters.
“We are not Afraid” is a heavy read, and doesn’t spare any expense into telling a story thar world needs to know. When I read the book in the early 90s, most of us only didn’t know that the Movie Mississippi Burning was based on real events, and we didn’t know much about the young men who were murdered. We didn’t know that Mickey Schwerner, the “hippie” from New York, continued to fight for others even when he was the most marked of the three. We didn’t know that Andrew Goodman had second thoughts going to Mississippi, and that James Chaney, a MS native, was expecting a child before his disappearance. Dray doesn’t not portray these men as martyrs, who believed that all Americans deserved equality and civil rights.
With the passage of time, now more than ever “We are not afraid” is as relevant as it was back in 1964.
April 21, 2020
Excellent overview of the Civil Rights era
Provides an excellent overview of the Civil Rights movement, particularly for those who appreciate a refresher and those new to this literature. Also provides in-depth portraits of the murdered civil rights workers and their families in the context of the murders. Bob Moses is prominently features throughout with much less emphasis on other leaders. Not a criticism since everything canoe covered, just an observation. Single criticism, I wish William Bradford Huie had been described with a bit more balance particularly since he work is repeatedly used as a source.
Overall more than worth your time. I rarely give 5 stars.
Provides an excellent overview of the Civil Rights movement, particularly for those who appreciate a refresher and those new to this literature. Also provides in-depth portraits of the murdered civil rights workers and their families in the context of the murders. Bob Moses is prominently features throughout with much less emphasis on other leaders. Not a criticism since everything canoe covered, just an observation. Single criticism, I wish William Bradford Huie had been described with a bit more balance particularly since he work is repeatedly used as a source.
Overall more than worth your time. I rarely give 5 stars.
April 19, 2022
This book is very well done. You receive a lot of background on the civil rights movement along with the story of the murders. It amazes me how much like a separate country Mississippi was during this time period. The constant struggle between activists and locals, Federal governments and state governments, sets the stage for this tragedy to happen.
Well researched, well written, great book to read.
Well researched, well written, great book to read.
June 28, 2019
Incredible history of Civil rights in Mississippi - focus is on the murder of the 3 voting rights workers - but the book covers a broader aspect. The book portrays ordinary people who did extraordinary things in the face of constant hate and violence and is an important thing to remember and honor.
September 30, 2023
A great book about a sad time in history
I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn about a sad time in our history that took place not that long ago. These men were three of many who died just for wanting equal rights regardless of color. Thankfully, because of people coming forward, their bodies were found and some justice was served.
I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn about a sad time in our history that took place not that long ago. These men were three of many who died just for wanting equal rights regardless of color. Thankfully, because of people coming forward, their bodies were found and some justice was served.
August 23, 2018
Not a book one reads for enjoyment. The history is well documented.
July 4, 2019
Freedom Summer primer
Well written and wide ranging account of Freedom Summer as well as the murder of the 3 civil rights workers. Definitely a must read.
Well written and wide ranging account of Freedom Summer as well as the murder of the 3 civil rights workers. Definitely a must read.
April 30, 2018
Devestating, riveting book. I learned so much and was inspired to read more about this time in our history.
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