As the Freedom Summer of 1964 was beginning, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman disappeared outside of the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. National attention became riveted on the region and the search for the missing three. Forty-four days later, their bodies were found in an earthen dam. The murder of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman stirred the nation, and the three became recognized as martyrs in the struggle for justice, equality, and dignity for blacks in the South and throughout the nation.