james_meredith_copy.jpgPHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) – Civil rights icon James Meredith, who broke the color barrier at the University of Mississippi in 1962, is scheduled to speak during the 49th annual memorial service for three civil rights workers killed in Neshoba County in 1964.

Event marks anniversary of Neshoba slayings

 

The program is scheduled for June 16 at 3:30 p.m. at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church.

 

The young men, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were ambushed and later shot by the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. They were in Neshoba County investigating the burning of Mt. Zion five days earlier.

 

In 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was convicted on three counts of manslaughter for his role in orchestrating the murders of the three civil rights workers and received three 20-year consecutive sentences.