The Second Amendment Kept the Civil Rights Movement Alive

On a hot and humid July 1964 night in Jonesboro, Louisiana, there occurred a series of unheralded but nevertheless pivotal events in the parallel histories of the civil rights movement and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These events unfolded during the Freedom Summer conducted by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), which had come to Louisiana and Mississippi to register black voters and to integrate the public schools. Since CORE’s arrival, racial tensions and the threat of violence had been high. In the preceding month, CORE volunteers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney had gone missing, and foul play was strongly suspected. Those suspicions were confirmed on August 4, 1964, when the FBI unearthed their bodies in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

On the night in question, shortly after sundown, persons unknown cut the electricity to segregated Jonesboro’s black community. Neighbors gathered and quietly visited in the darkened streets ignorant of what was heading their way.

After a spell, they saw in the distance the headlights of a caravan of 50 approaching vehicles being led by a police car with a pulsing red flashing dome light. Delighted and excited children ran into the streets to welcome what they took to be an impromptu parade.

But, as the cars approached, it could be seen that their license tags were covered and their occupants were wearing Ku Klux Klan robes. As they passed through the dark streets, the Klansmen began tossing leaflets warning the black residents to stay away from the CORE volunteers as well as the civil rights movement.