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It was a milestone in a county with a long conservative history 鈥� , seen as a as he sought the presidency.

While the town of 7,400 and surrounding Neshoba County has a long and mixed history, it is hoping the death of a prime mover in an ugly piece of it will allow it to learn and move on from a legacy of hate.

鈥淭hat stigma is a call for serious change,鈥� Young said.

Like much of the South, Neshoba County has a long way to go.

Freedom Summer killings

Young, 62, recalls his father in the living room of their home in Philadelphia, Mississippi, in the summer of 1964, waiting with a gun in case the Ku Klux Klan came through the front door.

There was 鈥渇ear, tension, evil in the air,鈥� Young said 54 years later.

A Ku Klux Klansman, Edgar Ray Killen, led a brigade of fellow racists and local law enforcement in pursuit of three civil rights workers: 21-year-old James Chaney of Meridian, Mississippi, 20-year-old Andrew Goodman and 24-year-old Michael 鈥淢ickey鈥� Schwerner, both of New York.

The three were working as part of 鈥淔reedom Summer,鈥� an effort by civil rights activists to register as many black voters in the deep South as possible.

Killen鈥檚 mob caught up with the three June 21, 1964 after local deputies released them from the county jail. After tailing them down a dark, rural Mississippi State Highway 19, , and were stopped, taken a quarter mile up a rural road then shot and killed, not far from Killen鈥檚 home.

Their car was burned and their bodies were buried in an earthen dam, where the FBI found them 44 days later.

Young, who was eight years old then, remembers it as a rough time.

鈥淚t triggered almost a helpless feeling,鈥� Young said. 鈥淚t was almost as if, once again, evil had won.鈥�

State officials refused to prosecute anyone in relation to the crime. The federal government stepped in and charged 18 people with conspiring to deprive Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner of their civil rights.

Seven men were convicted, none serving more than six years in prison.

Jurors deadlocked on charges against Killen, a local minister and sawmill owner and E.G. Barnett, a candidate for sheriff. They weren鈥檛 retried on federal charges.

The killings were memorialized in the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning which took its name from the

A year later, in 1989, on the 25th anniversary of the murders, the U.S. Congress passed ; U.S. Senator 聽and the rest of the Mississippi delegation refused to vote for it.

After a push of publicity and fresh investigation, in January 2005, the state indicted Killen on three counts of murder, marking the first time Mississippi officials had taken action in the case.

A jury returned guilty verdicts on a charge of manslaughter 41 years to the day after the men were killed, sending Killen to prison for 60 years.

Killen died January 12, 2018 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at the age of 92. Funeral arrangements for him were not made public.

Going forward

Young hopes Killen鈥檚 death closes a chapter for the town and Neshoba County.

鈥淎 legacy of hatred and prejudice has died,鈥� Young told the Southern Poverty Law Center. 鈥淚t kind of puts an end to that era 鈥� in Philadelphia and the South.鈥�

While the era may have ended, the legacy of the killings 鈥� and the attitude that brought them about 鈥� still remain in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and the country as a whole.

Around the corner from Young鈥檚 office on Main Street stands the Neshoba County Courthouse and a large monument of a Confederate soldier on the lookout. The statue is a memorial to all from Neshoba County who fought for the South in the Civil War.

Scattered around town and the county are smaller, less noticeable markers to Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, as well as others who took part in 鈥淔reedom Summer鈥� mixed into neighborhoods where both American and Confederate flags fly in front of houses.

The local tourist center keeps maps on hand for a self-guided 鈥淎frican-American Heritage Driving Tour.鈥�

鈥淣ot many,鈥� said Tim Moore, a local tourism official when asked how many people seek out the markers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not many at all.鈥�

At Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church on the west side of town, a stone marker features pictures of the three men along with their dates of birth and death. Go out the state highway and there鈥檚 a state-posted marker where the men were killed that鈥檚 easy to miss.

It is an ugly part of history that Philadelphia sort of embraces, but hopes others learn from.

Given the current political climate, with white supremacists, neo-Nazis and white nationalists feeling emboldened in the wake of President Donald Trump鈥檚 time in office, Young sees lessons to be learned from the local history.

鈥淰iolence is not the way to go,鈥� Young said.

Others with ties to the deaths of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner are hoping for the same thing.

Angela Mccoy-Lewis, the daughter Chaney never got a chance to meet, hopes that, in death, Killen can find peace with her father and others like him.

鈥淎 great joy for me would be for me, my dad and Edgar Ray to embrace each other in heaven,鈥� . 鈥淚 look forward to the day that I will meet my dad. I pray for the Killen family. Spread love.鈥�

David Goodman, the younger brother of Andrew Goodman, lamented the fact that several of the killers 鈥済ot off scot-free鈥� and that, despite Killen鈥檚 conviction, the case 鈥渋s justice unresolved.鈥�

鈥淭he fundamental problem of systemic racism that led to their deaths continues to resurface in America today, most recently in聽Charlottesville, VA, and Charleston, SC,鈥� . 鈥淲e must do better. One thing I am certain of is that my brother Andrew鈥檚 story will not die with Edgar Ray Killen. It will continue to serve as a painful reminder of how far we have come and how far we still have to go.鈥�

It鈥檚 a sentiment Young, now in his third term in office, agrees with.

鈥淵ou just want to be a soul that protects life and the dignity of life,鈥� Young said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a lot of work to do on that. You see the rhetoric these days.鈥�