Cecil Price

Cecil Price
Federal Bureau of Investigation · Public domain · source
Name	Cecil Price
Birth date	15 April 1928
Birth place	Laurel, Mississippi, U.S.
Death date	06 May 2001
Death place	Laurel, Mississippi, U.S.
Occupation	Deputy sheriff
Known for	Role in the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders
Spouse	Mary Price

Cecil Price was a Deputy sheriff of Neshoba County, Mississippi, who played a central role in the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders in 1964. His actions, as part of a conspiracy involving local law enforcement and the Ku Klux Klan, led to the deaths of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) workers and became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. The subsequent federal investigation and trial highlighted systemic racial injustice in the Southern United States and spurred the passage of key civil rights legislation.

Early life and career

Cecil Ray Price was born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi, a state deeply entrenched in the Jim Crow laws of the segregated South. After serving in the United States Air Force, he returned to Mississippi and entered local law enforcement. By 1964, he was the chief deputy sheriff under Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence Rainey. Price's position gave him considerable authority in a county known for its hostility towards the Civil Rights Movement and voter registration drives organized by groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE.

Role in the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders

On June 21, 1964, Price arrested three civil rights workers—Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney—near Philadelphia, Mississippi, for an alleged traffic violation. The three were part of the Freedom Summer project, aimed at registering African Americans to vote. After holding them for several hours at the Neshoba County Jail, Price released them late in the evening. As they drove away, Price followed their car and stopped them again. He then turned them over to a waiting mob of Ku Klux Klan members, which included fellow law enforcement officer Edgar Ray Killen. The three men were driven to a remote area, shot, and buried in an earthen dam at a local farm. Price's role was crucial; he used his official authority to detain the victims, facilitating their abduction and murder. The case, initially investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the code name "Mississippi Burning" (MIBURN), revealed a conspiracy between the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and local officials.

Trial and legal proceedings

The FBI investigation, led by agent John Proctor, faced immense local resistance but eventually uncovered the bodies and evidence of the conspiracy. In 1967, Price and 18 others, including Sheriff Rainey, were tried in federal court. The charges were not for murder, which was a state crime, but for violating the victims' civil rights under the United States Code Section 242, a Reconstruction-era statute. The trial was held in Meridian, Mississippi, before Federal Judge William Harold Cox. The United States Department of Justice prosecution team, which included attorney John Doar, secured convictions for seven defendants, including Cecil Price. He was found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to six years in prison. Notably, the jury, which included one African-American member, could not reach a verdict for preacher Edgar Ray Killen, who would later be convicted in a 2005 state trial.

Aftermath and historical significance

Price's conviction was a landmark, representing one of the first successful federal prosecutions of civil rights-era crimes in the Deep South. The case exposed the complicity of law enforcement in Racial violence and galvanized public support for stronger federal protection of civil rights. It contributed directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and influenced later legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The murders and the federal response are seen as a turning point, demonstrating the limits of States' rights arguments in the face of blatant injustice and increasing federal intervention in Southern affairs. The case remains a key study in the history of the Civil Rights Movement and American jurisprudence.

Personal life and death

Cecil Price was married to Mary Price and had two children. After serving his prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone in Minnesota, he returned to Laurel, Mississippi, and lived a largely quiet, private life. He worked in the mobile home business and avoided public discussion of the murders. Price died of a heart attack on May 6, 2001, in his hometown. His death preceded the reopening of the case by the State of Mississippi, which led to the 2005 Manslaughter conviction of Edgar Ray Killen. Price's role as a law enforcement officer who betrayed his oath to protect and serve has made him a lasting symbol of institutional racism during the civil rights era.