Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

voting and political participation and the availability ofeconomic opportunities
for Blacks, as well as the constant threat of racist violence .1°
While the Meridian Movement gained national attention from the investi-
gation of the abduction and murders of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman (they
all worked out of the Meridian COFO office), Meridian possessed a well-orga
nized, active Movement which had continued for generations . The NAACP had
been organized in the city since the 1930's . In the 1940's, businessman E . F
Young organized the local chapter of the Holbrook Benevolent Association, which
not only served the health care and burial needs of the community but was a
vehicle for advocacy and community organization . The Weekly Echo, a local
Black owned newspaper, challenged Meridian's segregationist policies . In the
early 1960's, Meridian had demonstrations to protest segregated lunch counters
and was the first Mississippi stop for the Freedom Riders campaign against
segregated bus terminals . So the tragedy of the three young activists only gave
national attention to a struggle which had been building for decades . According to
local businessman, community leader and activist Charles Young "the Chaney,
Goodman, and Schwerner activity was the water that went on the plant that
caused the plant to mushroom." The practice of defense of Movement leaders and
institutions had also continued for generations in Meridian. In the 1940's, a local
Black, George Haynes, helped to protect Black community leaders with his
double headed axe . In the 1950's members of the Black community participated
in guarding the homes of NAACP leaders C . L . Darden, Albert Jones, and Charles
Young (the son of E. F Young) ."
Particularly in the primary base of the Meridian Movement was the First