282 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI the Mississippi legislature passed laws doubling the number of state police and banning picketing, leafleting and assembly. Police plans were guided in part by information from Informant X and Informant Y, who were both African Americans with ties to the Freedom Summer activists. The State Sovereignty Commission facilitated clinics for law enforcement to handle the invaders, and Mississippi law enforcement stockpiled electric cattle prods, tear gas, and riot guns. Television coverage of Freedom Summer was massive, except in Mississippi, which referred to the movement as “Northern ideas.” Television stations in Mississippi flashed announcements like “Cable Difficulty” or “Sorry Cable Trouble” across the screen to keep outside coverage from getting into Mississippi. Citizens’ Council members like the owners of the Jackson Daily News and The Clarion-Ledger, and the manager of Jackson’s WLBT- TV, established monopolies that helped turn Mississippi into a “Closed Society.” Freedom Summer workers and the Civil Rights Movement penetrated the East Central region. Staughton Lynd, a Spelman historian, Quaker activist and Freedom School coordinator, traveled to Carthage where the SNCC volunteers were experiencing strong resistance from the white population regarding the proposed Freedom School. In 1964, no African Americans had registered to vote in Neshoba County since 1955. Longdale Methodists, including Ross Jones, Clinton Collier, Burleen Riley, and Ernest Kirkland, dared to work with the movement by driving at night to Canton in two cars to pick up clothes and literature. George Smith became involved full-time with the movement in 1964. He had always wanted to work in the Meridian hospital where he was born. He was hired as an orderly at the hospital and awarded employee of the month. Smith and his wife Louise became active in the Civil Rights Movement. He was arrested for picketing a grocery store and his name was listed in The Meridian Star. George was called into his supervisor’s office at work and was fired for being a part of the movement. Roscoe Jones served as a student organizer and a student leader in the Meridian Freedom School, the largest freedom school in Mississippi. Jones joined the civil rights movement when he was thirteen years old through the NAACPYouth Council led by Ralph Darden, an African American photographer in Meridian. Their first sit-in at Woolworth in Meridian was on May 30, 1964. Thirteen were arrested and taken to city hall, where they were booked and sent to jail. Alvin L. Fielder of Meehan Junction entered the Meharry Medical School of Pharmacy in 1930 and passed the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy in 1933. He opened his pharmacy, Fielder & Brooks, with a local physician, L.F. Brooks on September 16, 1934. The Meridian area Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) office was located in the upper story of this building. There, voter registration drives and other civil rights activities took place, headed by Michael (Mickey) Schwerner. The Murder of Three Civil Rights Workers Sparks Outrage A new Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) recruit, Andrew Goodman, arrived in Meridian from Ohio for the first time on Friday, June 20, 1964. He immediately wrote a reassuring note to his parentts: “I have arrived safely in Meridian, Miss. This is a wonderful town and the weather is fine. I wish you were here. The people in this city are wonderful and our reception was very good. All my love, Andy” Andrew began working with Michael Schwerner and a local African American man named James Earl Chaney. Those who knew Michael “Mickey” Schwerner and worked closely with him said he was kind and filled with life and ideas. Schwerner and his wife, Rita, were the first white civil rights workers in Meridian. Meridian resident James Earl Chaney became a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) staffer and made night runs to Neshoba County. The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission had given the license tag number of the car to law enforcement all over the state. Using only his parking lights and moonlight to guide him in Neshoba County, when he made it into Lauderdale County, he turned his headlights back on, feeling safe enough to drive home. His mother Fannie Lee was afraid for her son, and her fears proved well-founded. On Sunday, June 21 at noon, Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Earl Chaney headed to Longdale to investigate the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church where meetings had been held regarding voter registration. Many who attended the meeting just before the burning had been severely beaten by Klan members. Andrew Goodman hadn’t even spent a full day in Meridian before he, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner left for Neshoba County. No one admitted to seeing Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman.