Highway 19

I should preface this entry by saying that Thanksgiving was absolutely lovely. I spent it in Meridian with Ben's family and I had an absolutely perfect time.

Today Ben and I drove back to Oxford from Meridian and he took me down Highway 19 through Philadelphia. I have a pretty big interest in studying the Civil Rights Movement, especially the movement in Mississippi, so Ben took the long way back to Oxford so we could drive down this road. On June 21, 1964, Freedom Summer workers Andy Goodman, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner were murdered by the KKK off this road. The historical marker is off Highway 19, the highway where the Sheriff of Neshoba County pulled them over, and at the beginning of Rock Cut Road, where the men were later murdered. It was a very eerie place and a very surreal moment. I spent nearly two years of my life studying Freedom Summer, and to be able to put a place with a story I know so well is an unusual feeling.