About James Chaney
James Earl Chaney was an American civil rights activist. He was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) civil rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964. The others were Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner from New York City. Chaney served 13 years and, after gaining parole, founded the James Earl Chaney Foundation in his brother's honor. James attended Catholic school for the first nine grades, and was a member of St Joseph Catholic Church in Meridian, Mississippi. Chaney was acquitted of murder in South Carolina, but found guilty of three counts of first degree murder in Florida under the felony murder rule. The journalist Jerry Mitchell, an award-winning investigative reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, had discovered new evidence and written extensively about the case for six years.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.